In separate interviews with the Research Directorate, both a professor of Sociology at Central State University, at Mount Pleasant, Michigan, who specializes in Somali minority clans, and a Graduate student in the Faculty of Law at Ottawa University, author of Clans, Sub-clans and Regional Representation in the Somali Government Organisation 1960-1990: Statistical Data and Findings, stated that the Mushunguli are a Somali Bantu tribe. Before the civil war in 1991, the Mushunguli used to inhabit the lower and upper Shaabeelle regions of Somalia (15 Oct. 1998). According to Ethnologue: Languages of the World, the Mushunguli, live in "Southern Somali, Jamaame District of Lower Jubba Region, centred in Jamaame District, and some in urban areas in nearby Kismaayo and in Muqdisho" (1992, 366).

Both sources stated that traditionally, the Mushunguli were farmers and they formed a "caste" group of Somali minorities known as the jareer or jirir. They explained that mainstream Somalis look down upon them because of their slave origins. The Mushunguli originated in the hinterland of East Africa, particularly Tanzania, and they migrated to Somalia in search of security from the slave-trade (ibid.). However, the professor clarified that the real origins of the Mushunguli are contested. He said that some historians trace their origins to Tanzania but archeological data shows that they originated within Somalia itself. However, but Ethnologue states that the Mushunguli "descended from fugitive slaves who escaped from their Somali masters in the Middle Shabeelle region around 1840, in northeast Tanzania, they were called 'WaZegua'" (1992, 360).

The sources explained that their fertile lands along the Shabeelle River have been expropriated by the warring factions and so they were cast out of their lands. The Mushunguli, they further stated, have been left without protection, because they do not have a militia of their own. The graduate student stated that the Mushunguli have been "totally abused" in the Somali conflict. The Sociology professor explained that the Mushunguli have been living in a "modern slavery type" situation. He stated that the reasons for the current conflict between the Somali warlords centre around the control of the farmlands, particularly, the banana plantations, formerly cultivated by the Mushunguli (ibid).

The professor further stated that, in Somalia the Mushunguli together with the Midgan clans occupy the lowest rank in the highly stratified Somali social system. During the pre- the war period, the Mushunguli not play a significant role in the social and economic system of Somalia, and, politically they were marginalized.

The professor and the graduate student both stated that in appearance, the Mushunguli are physically distinct in from the rest of the Somalis. They do not intermarry with the rest of the Somalis and they speak a language akin to the Swahili of Tanzania and Mombasa. The professor clarified that, in addition to their own language, the Mushunguli who live in urban areas of Somalia would speak Somali, while those in the rural areas would neither speak nor understand Somali. Ethonologue states that "they [Mushunguli] do not mingle with other peoples of Somalia, so the women do not learn Somali. The men learn Maay or Somali as second Language" (1992, 366). For additional information on the treatment of the jareer, please consult Response to Information Request SOM27025.E of 13 June 1997.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate 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.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. Edited Barbra F. Grimes. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Graduate student in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, [Ottawa], and co-author of Clan: Sub-clans and Regional Representation in the Somali Government Organization 1960-1990: Statistical Data and Findings. 15 Dec. 1998. Telephone interview.

Professor of Sociology, specialist in Somali minority clans, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant. 15 October 1998. Telephone interview.

Africa Confidential [London]. January - August 1998. Nos. 1-17.

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [Oxford]. January-July 1998. Vol. 35. Nos. 1-7.

Horn of Africa Bulletin [Uppsala]. January-August 1998. Vol. 10. Nos. 1-4.

Cassanelli, Lee V. 1982. The Shaping of Modern Somalia: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennyslvania Press.

Gilkes, P.S. September 1994. The Price of Peace: Somalia and the United Nations 1991-1994. Bedfordshire, U.K.: Save the Children Fund.

The Invention of Somalia. Edited by Ali Jamale Ahmed. 1995. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press.

Lewis, I.M. 1994. Blood and Bone: The Call of Kinship in Somali Society. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press.

_____. 1988. Rev. ed. A Modern History of Somalia: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa. Boulder, Col: Westview Press.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC).

Three oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.