Dir clan, including how the Dir subclans compare commonalities and differences, the political representation

Somalia: The Fiqi Omar subclan of the Dir clan, including how the Dir subclans compare commonalities and differences, the political representation they have enjoyed leading to the "Cairo Declaration," and subsequent National Reconciliation Conference, whether they have a militia and where, with whom and against whom it is currently involved

Publisher	Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Author	Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada
Publication Date	1 April 1998
Citation / Document Symbol	SOM29248.E
Cite as	Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: The Fiqi Omar subclan of the Dir clan, including how the Dir subclans compare commonalities and differences, the political representation they have enjoyed leading to the "Cairo Declaration," and subsequent National Reconciliation Conference, whether they have a militia and where, with whom and against whom it is currently involved, 1 April 1998, SOM29248.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab7d38.html [accessed 28 February 2018]
Disclaimer	This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Information on the Fiqi Omar subclan of the Dir clan including the manner in which Dir clans compare commonalities and differences could not be found among the sources currently available to the Research Directorate. For detailed information on the  Dir clan and their family tree, please consult pages 144-148 of Patrick Gilkes' The Price of Peace in Somalia, and the appendix on clan genealogies,  which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.
The Dir participated in the Sodere Conference which took place on 3 January 1997 at the Ethiopian hot-spring resort of Sodere, and is one of the major clan families represented in the 41-member National Salvation Council (NSC) created at Sodere and charged with the responsibility of organising a transitional government (Africa Confidential 17 Jan. 1997).
The Cairo Peace Agreement, which was a follow-up to the Sodere Agreement, was reportedly signed in the presence of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on 22 December 1997 (Africa News 23 Mar. 1998), by delegates of  Hussein Farah Aydid's Somali National Alliance (SNA) and the NCS headed by Osman Ali "Atto" and Ali Mahdi Mohamed (The Indian Ocean Newsletter  6 Dec. 1997, 3). The Cairo Declaration called for another follow-up conference of national reconciliation to be held in Baidoa on 20 December 1997 but this has been repeatedly postponed and is now scheduled to take place on 15 May 1998, funds permitting, although "the real obstacle stems from the refusal of faction leader Hussein Mohamed Aydeed to pull his militia from Baidoa, as agreed in Cairo" (ibid., 4 Apr. 1998).
A 30 March 1998 Agence France Presse report states that two people were killed and five others injured during fighting between Habr Gedir and Dir clans in the Qeyder village in southern Somalia.
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.
References
Africa Confidential [London]. 17 January 1997. "Somalia: The Sodere Spirit."
Africa News. 23 March 1998. "Somalia: Somali Peace Advocate Calls for Grassroots Approach." (NEXIS)
Agence France Presse. 30 March 1998. "Plus de 30 morts dans des combats à Kismayo." (NEXIS)
The Indian Ocean Newsletter. 4 April 1998. No. 806. "The Impossible Reconciliation."
_____. 6 December 1997. No. 790. "Somalia: Pipes of Peace."
Gilkes, P.S. September 1994. The Price of Peace: Somalia and the United Nations 1991-1994. Bedfordshire, U.K.: Save the Children's Fund.
Additional Sources Consulted
Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [London]. Vols. 34 & 35. Nos. 1-12.  January 1997 - March 1998.
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997. 1998.
Horn of Africa Bulletin [Uppsala]. January 1997 - February 1998. Vols. 9 & 10. Nos. 1- 6.
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.
New African [London].  January 1997 - March. 1998.
Electronic sources: DIRB Databases, Global News Bank, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD (UNHCR database), World News Connection (WNC).

Copyright notice: This document is published with the permission of the copyright holder and producer Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The original version of this document may be found on the offical website of the IRB at http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/. Documents earlier than 2003 may be found only on Refworld.

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