According to a consultant specializing in Somali affairs with the United Nations Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, forcible recruitment is not generally practised by Somali clans (15 Nov. 1995). In Somaliland the use of clan militia are "peripheral to the employment of 'regular' military forces" (ibid.). The consultant also states that "individuals or families who elect not to participate in their clan militia would not, as a rule, be subject to any adverse 'consequences'" (ibid.).

For additional information, please consult the attachment and Response to Information Request SOM21584.E of 18 August 1995, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

A professor of Somali history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia stated in a telephone interview on 9 November 1995 that he had not seen much evidence of forcible recruitment during his research in the country. The professor thought it might be possible for individuals to be pressed to fight for a specific purpose, as in a counter attack, or for immediate defense of the local community, but not for a sustained period of time (ibid.). The professor added that minorities without a clan basis may not fare as well as clan members, but he was not aware of forcible recruitment on a systematic basis (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

United Nations Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. 15 November 1995. Fax sent to the DIRB by a consultant specializing in Somali affairs.

Professor of Somali history at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 9 November 1995. Telephone interview.

United Nations Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. 15 November 1995. Fax sent to the DIRB by a consultant specializing in Somali affairs.