Document #1342737
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
No information on the difficulties or risks
a member of the Marehan clan would face upon returning to the
provinces of Bari and Nugal in the northeast is currently available
to the DIRB in Ottawa.
However, according to News from Africa
Watch, the Marehan, a subclan of the Darod, is the clan of Siad
Barre, the deposed president who ruled Somalia for 21 years (7 Mar.
1993, 3-4). From the beginning of his rule, Siad Barre gave
preference to members of his clan, who were recruited in large
numbers into the public service and the army (ibid.). After Siad
Barre's departure in January 1993, his former supporters and
members of the Maheran clan regrouped under the Somali National
Front (SNF), a warring faction led by Siad Barre's son-in-law,
General Said Hersi "Morgan"(ibid.). It is under Said Hersi's
command that the Somali army destroyed the city of Hargeisa in
northern Somalia during the goverment offensive against the Somali
National Movement (SNM) in 1988 (ibid.).
According to a Somali professor of public
administration at Syracuse University in New York, cited in
Response to Information Request Som 15474.E of 27 October 1993, the
provinces of Bari and Nugal in northern Somalia were under the
control of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) which is
composed of members of the Majerteen clan (DIRB 27 Oct. 1993).
News from Africa Watch states that an April 1978 aborted
coup against Siad Barre staged by army officers belonging to the
Majerteen clan led to reprisals against members of the same clan (7
Mar. 1993, 3).
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.
Documentation, Information and Research
Branch (DIRB), Ottawa. 27 October 1993. Response to Information
Request SOM15474.E.
News From Africa Watch [New
York]. 7 March 1993. Vol. 5, No. 2. "Somalia: Beyond the Warlords:
The Need for a Verdict on Human Rights Abuses."
News From Africa Watch [New
York]. 7 March 1993. Vol. 5, No. 2. "Somalia: Beyond the Warlords:
The Need for a Verdict on Human Rights Abuses."