Information regarding Leelkase clan members of the Somalia military. [SOM5408]

Information on the Leelkase clan can be found in Responses to previous Information Requests Nos. SOM2166 and SOM2226, both available in Toronto.

Although the following does not deal with the Leelkase, it may help shed some light on the overall treatment of clan members the government may find "potentially disloyal". Keesing's Record of World Events reported that in early September numerous Somali government officials in Mogadishu who were members of the Isaaq clan had been dismissed from their posts. At the same time, it was reported that several Isaaq diplomats at Somali missions overseas had defected to the West rather than responding to recall orders by the government in May and July of 1989. [ Keesing's Record of World Events 1989, Vol. 35, No. 6, p. 36758.] According to the manager of COSTI, there are very few Isaaqs who currently occupy positions of authority in the civil service, the military or the police. Nearly all Isaaqs in the armed forces have been dismissed, and some have been detained. Some Isaaq military personnel of lower ranks have been posted to areas where they would be isolated, without their relatives or clan members.

Corroborating information regarding the above oral source is currently unavailable to the IRBDC.