Document #1060371
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The Ogadeen clan is considered to be one of
the three clans which have been prominent in the Siad Barre
government since the military coup of 1969. This, however, does not
necessarily mean that all individuals or members of the Ogadeen
clan have taken part in Barre's government or have not opposed it.
Various reports available to the IRBDC indicate that over the last
several years the Ogadeni support for President Siad Barre has
declined as he has loosened his alliance with them in the
complicated clan structure that makes up Somali politics. The
current uncertain situation of the Ogadeen clan should, however, be
analyzed within the larger context of Somalia's tribalism and
clan-based politics.
According to modern ethnographers, all
Somalis are divided into six major groupings, conveniently called
clan-families: Darood, Digil, Dir, Hawiye, Isaaq, and Rahanwayn.
These are vast confederations of kinship groups whose members claim
descent from a common ancestor some 25 to 30 generations back.
Although every Somali belongs to one of these clan-families,
Somalis identify themselves more immediately with the clans into
which each clan-family is sub-divided. For example, the Darood, the
largest clan-family, contains clans such as the Majerteen, Ogadeen,
Mareehan, Dulbahante, etc. [ A comprehensive study on Somali
lineage system is found in: I. M. Lewis, A Pastoral Society
(London: Oxford University Press, 1961).] A characteristic feature
of the Somali lineage segmentation is that it is both centripetal
and centrifugal, at times drawing together the Somalis into a
strong kinship affinity and cultural identity while setting them
against one another in an antagonistic class of tribal interests. [
David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search
of State (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987), pp. 30-31.] Thus,
Somalia's traditional lineage segmentation has significant social
and political functions, and a Somali gives political allegiance
first to his immediate family, then to his immediate lineage
followed by the clan of his lineage, then to clan-family, and
ultimately to the nation. [ Ibid.]
Since it assumed state power in 1969, the
present Somali government has attacked Somali tribalism as a major
obstacle to national unity and development. Despite his public
pronouncements on the need to eliminate clan affiliations, however,
President Siad Barre has been accused of surrounding himself with
kinsmen of three particular clans of the Darood clan-family: his
own Mareehan clan, his mother's Ogadeen clan, and the Dulbahante
clan of his Son-in-law. Many critics maintain that while this
clan-based political alliance, code-named MOD, has provided the
President with a reliable power base that offers external as well
as internal security, it has had the effect of perpetuating and
even exacerbating tribalism in Somali politics. [ Ibid, pp.
92-94. Also see: I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of Somalia:
Nation and State in the Horn of Africa (Boulder: Westview
Press, 1988), pp. 221-223.]
President Siad Barre's war against Ethiopia
in 1977-78 had kept the country briefly united around the long-held
dream of "Greater Somalia", which would have incorporated the
ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. The ethnic Somalis
living in the Ogaden have deep-rooted social, cultural and economic
ties with Somalia, but their land is "legally" part of Ethiopia. [
"Ogaden: The Land But Not the People", Horn of Africa, Vol.
4, No. 1, 1981, pp. 42-45.] In terms of their genealogy, the
majority of them belong to the Ogadeen clan, one of the three
leading clans in the power structure of the Somali Democratic
Republic. The Ogadeen clan in Somalia saw the liberation of the
Ogaden as the highest goal for any Somali government, and for this
reason they played a significant role in President Siad Barre's
tribal coalition. [ Laitin and Samatar, p. 140.]
Ever since Somalia was defeated by Ethiopia
in the Ogaden war, the ruling MOD alliance that has helped to keep
the Mareehan in power for so long has reportedly been
disintegrating into the traditional Somali clan rivalries. The
alliance has been divided over government policies, including
attempt of rapprochement with Ethiopia. There were two alleged
Ogadeni coup plots in 1984 and 1985, and President Siad Barre has
reportedly continued a policy, started in mid-1984, of reducing the
number and influence of senior Ogadeni officers in his army who
might have opposed his plans to do a deal with Ethiopia over the
Ogaden region. To this end, in February 1986 alone, over 50 Ogadeni
officers up to the rank of major were dismissed from the Somali
army. [ "Somalia: Towards an Ogaden Pact", Africa
Confidential, 26 February 1986, pp. 6-7.]
Following talks with the Ethiopian
President in January 1986, President Siad Barre has been steadily
moving away from the long-held Somali government policy of
unconditional support for the Somali inhabitants of the Ogaden
region. This in turn has led to a growing rift between the Ogadeen
clan and President Siad Barre. [ "Somalia: The Ogadeni's
Misfortune", Africa Confidential, 17 October 1984, pp. 5-7.]
When the President finally signed a peace agreement with Ethiopia
in April 1988, renouncing the claim to their homeland, the Ogadenis
began to desert him. [ "Somali Democratic Republic: Disintegrating
Tribal Alliance", Africa Research Bulletin, 15 September
1989, pp. 9390-9391.] Furthermore, the May 1988 heavy fighting
between the Somali National Movement (SNM) and government troops
had left scars on Ogadeni officers who charge that their units were
continuously given frontline duties during the fighting.
President Siad Barre is making all the
efforts to perpetuate the position and power of his Mareehan clan,
and the only people he trusts are the members of his family who
hold all key government positions. Until a few years ago, Ogadeni
officers dominated Somalia's armed forces, but the Mareehan have
reportedly disarmed non-Mareehan units and confrontations at
officer and lower echelon level have occurred, according to sources
available to the IRBDC. Reports indicate that the Mareehan alliance
with the Ogadeen has ended, with Ogadeni soldiers rebelling and
joining other opposition clans and forces.