Garre Dir Quranyow Mohammed Hiniftire - UN Report

Dynamics and Trends of Conflict in Greater Mandera


1. 1.2 Settlement Patterns in Mandera

Majority of the people living in the greater Mandera District (99%) are ethnic Somalis, giving the District a considerable degree of homogeneity. Among these ethnic Somalis, more than 80% are from the Samale dialect of Somalis. The Mandera Somali divide themselves traditionally into five ‘clan’ groupings, as follows: the Garre; the Murulle; the Degodia; the Corner Tribes; and the Marehan.
1.2.1 The Garre

The Garre are the majority and the most widespread clan in Mandera. They live in Mandera North, West, and Central and around Mandera town. The Garre are a diverse and complex clan consisting of two major sections, the Tuff and the Quranyo. Garre clans use three languages to communicate among themselves, including the common Somali; the Rahanwein dialect of Southern Somalia, and the ‘Garre’ language of Mandera, which is a Somalised dialect of Borana. The main Garre groupings descended from Mayle ibn Samal, and are thus equals to Irir and Saransor as sons of Samal, the original head of the Somali people. The Quranyo section of the Garre claim descent from Dirr, who are born of the Irrir Samal. Garre live in Southern Somalia, North Eastern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. In Southern Somalia, they live in Kofur near Mogadishu and El Wak District in Gedo Province. In Ethiopia, they live in Moyale, Hudet and Woreda of Liban zone. In Kenya, the Garre inhabit Wajir North and Moyale. The Garre share ancestry with other Borana tribes in Northern Kenya including the Sakuye of Saku, Isiolo and Moyale; the Rendille of Laisamis; the Gabra of Marsabit North; and the Wa-Katwa Bajun clans of Lamu. Certain Garre families have over time taken up dominant leadership positions, both in Kenya and Ethiopia. In Rhamu (Kenya), the family of Sayid Abass Sayid Sheikh Ali3 rose to prominence both as religious and political leaders, while in El Wak, the family of Chief Adawa Eno, remains influential. In Ethiopia, the influence of the Aw Gababa family continues. According to the colonial records, the Garre clan of River Daua emigrated around the turn of the 19th Century from the Garre Kofur country near the coast of Italian Somaliland. As such, the clan speaks the Rahanwein dialect of Somali4’ .The records point out in reference to the Garre that:
‘They are keen traders, travel to Luk, Moyale, Isiolo with stock, soda, coffee and cotton goods, they dislike the Tigre looters and Abyssinians generally, like to live in settlements when they can, some families are of very light color and show Arab blood, possibly acquired in Kofur from contact with the Arabs of Mogadishu"


Over the first three decades of independent Kenya, Garre businessmen and politicians dominated the Greater Mandera District. Garre clan members have also established thriving businesses in the major towns like Nairobi, Eldoret, Mombasa, and Nakuru. Similarly, they have penetrated the local councils in these towns to secure seats as councilors.


http://www.undp.org/content/dam/kenya/docs/Amani%20Papers/AP_Volume1_n2_May2010.pdf
 



 



9 khalaf
10 moalin omar
11 Isow
12 Barre
13 Kilmaale
14 Furkesha
15 Quranyow
16 Mohamed
17 Mahe
18 Dir

i know you have the children of Furkesha in your site but that doesn't include our name Kilmaale Furkesha... i have looked all over the internet but i didn't find any info about kilmaale... so i started to think that since our people migrated from the quranyow in northern kenya down to bay region, it could have been lost in pronunciation because it was such a long time that even today we are part of a completely different tribe but we still remember our abtirsi. give me your thoughts on this if you have any info regarding this.

Aabe: Quran Maxamed Xanaftire
Hooyo: Mako Tuuf Deeli

Bah ???

1. Hodkoya Furkesha Quran

1. Birkaya Furkesha Quran

1. Hoytra Furkesha Quran

1. Darawa Furkesha Quran

1. Kalwesha Furkesha Quran

1. Hurdeq Furkesha Quran

1. Subukitre Furkesha Quran

1. Kilmaale Furkesha Quran

Walaalo isku bah ah

1. Assaree Quran Maxamed
   

i know quranyow are garre and they live both in northern kenya and shabeelaha hoose in somalia.... we are in the Hariin clan of rahanweyn/Mirifle and settle near baidoa a places called, labaatan jarow, goof gaduud, busul, mooro waraabe... so we basically dont even claim or know much about our garre/quranyow/dir side... these days we are basically just Hariin.. however i have always heard our elders talking about that such a long time ago our people were defeated by the oromo and boran in nothern kenya and pushed towards southern somalia... and most of them moved to settle near the river shabelle whereas our group decided to settle near baidoa and joined the Hariin sub clan which we have since mixed, married with and are now fully rahanweyn and the only thing connecting us to quranyow now is our abtirsi.... sow just out of curiosity james, how does a European get into somali clan systems and now is an expert lol tell me a little about that if you don't mind plz its interesting... i say this because couple of years ago when i first came to England as teenager and was going to college i asked some of my English friends what their clans were looool which they hilariously laughed at and made so many jokes about me since then.. to me at the time, it was strange that they didn't belong to no tribes and they were lucky if they knew their great grandfather's name lol sorry about long post

According to the Gharri’s oral traditional history and British colonial era records based on interview they had with then Gharri elders, regarding the origin of the Gharri people, the Gharri people came from red sea coast and settled at “Serar”, what is now known as arusi province of Ethiopia, They build mosques and homes made of stones. Then during the 1600th exodus of people’s movement, from the north reached the Gharri kingdom and fighting ensued because the enemies started looting the Gharri properties and herds. The Gharri were outnumbered and they were forced to immigrate toward southwest, and settled around filtu and Wachile areas.
The Gharri traditional historians state that the Gharri lived there for period of about 60 years without any disturbances. During that time they build stone houses and mosques around filtu and wachile especially around the dawa riverbanks in around fifty miles corridors from Malka Mari through Malka Dirir area.as it were a standard way of building houses. Then later on the exodous of the Borana reached there. It was believed that was the first time they came in contact with the Borana

So, during late 1600 and early 1700, they lived with the Borana. Later on, things changed, and the Gharri were outnumbered by the Boran and the Borana tried to make them subjects and demand tribute. So, the Gharri decided to move back to their previous region of Confur through Juba land.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraro

The "exodus from the north" is Darod Somalis from the Sultanate of Adal out of Ethiopia, specifically Ifat, which had been invaded by Amhara and Oromos, which forced Garre (of whom your ancestors were in the Garre confederation at the time) to leave their lands in Serar (Seraro in Oromo, it's a Woreda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraro) and migrate to Wuchale in northern Kenya.

According to the Gharri they chose to leave on their own after pressure from the Borana grew too great, though who knows, anyways they crossed over the Jubba into Konfur. After this, one branch of the Gharri decided to go back and reclaim their lands, but presumably your ancestors decided to stay behind and join the Raxanweyn.

The bit about being originally from the Red Sea Coast is probably close to true, though probably not the coast but rather the interior near Harar.

The Mugging of Lower Shabelle- Bimaal Dir lands

 

Udubland State of Somalia

· May 27, 2013 ·

 

The predicament continues. The status quo has not changed. The winds of hope, expressed by many during what was called the “democratic election” of a president, may have been the biggest hoax and, in any event, has waned. The usual culprits are at it again. The demagogues of war and oppression of peaceful communities still hold Somalia hostage. And the new government of “hope” looks on with tacit approval.



As you may very well know, there was a war in Marka, Lower Shabelle last week. You may not know that it was a war that began as soon as the Somali State ceased to exist in 1991. Last week’s war highlighted a tragedy that is more complex and underpinned by a wider net of tribal affiliates and accomplices than one might imagine.

The war began as a result of a demonstration by the staff of an Italian NGO called COSV at its office in Marka. The staff was not paid for eight months. The Regional Chairman of Aid Operations for Lower Shabelle, a certain Yusuf Mohamed Abdi of the Habar Gidir subclan, gathered 50 of his militia in Shalamboot under the banner of the Somali National Army to subdue the demonstrators. The local police and military from the Biimaal clan, also wearing the uniform of the Somali National Army and Police uniforms intervened. The HG militia brought AMISOM for back up; luckily they were stopped in time on the behest of local elders who pointed out it is a fighting between two parties that are both members of the National Army. Apart from the death of young men on both sides, the militia from Shalambot was surrounded. Subsequent to this, another Habar Gidir subclan militia from Jannaale district under the command of Ina Dhuxullow, who claims to be the Vice-District Commissioner of Jannaale, joined the fighting. Reports contend that, in addition to loosing four men with five others wounded, including the Vice-District Commissioner, the invading militia lost a car which overturned during the fighting.


The ensuing event is more shocking not for its own sake but that it has happened at a time when Somalia’s arms embargo has been lifted. The Commander of the 5th Division stationed around Marka, a Habra Gidir of the Faqshini subclan, sent a message to the front lines that he and the Commissioner of Marka, Yariisow of Biimaal clan, are coming to help stop the fighting and that both sides must cease their fire. Both sides obliged and waited for the arrival of the Commander and District Commissioner. To the surprise of the Biimaal guyes, before they knew it, they were receiving bullets from behind them, exactly were the Commander of the army base said he was coming from. It was not the commander of the 5th Division, rather it was a Habar Gidir militia leader named Cirro at the head of a group with technicals. There is more than one report claiming that Cirro has been severely wounded. As the local fighters stood their ground and inflicted heavy damages on the Habar Gidir militia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs intervened.
A high level delegation was dispatched to Marka. The delegation made matters even worse. They sacked the Commissioner of Marka, who in the eyes of the community was one of the few people contributing to betterment of their lives and appointed a pawn. They appointed a khat dealer who was also an owner of a local brothel from the Habar Gidir subclan as the Vice-Commissioner of the city. Isn’t that the most appropriate method to build an aimless, confused management for the city?


The most damaging stipulation by the delegation was to send all of the Bimaal youngsters involved in the war for further training. The reader should know that whereas the local youngsters completed their army training in Uganda, the invading clan army were recruited into the National Army without any training. They were the army of warlord Indhacade et al, who like Idi Amin lays claim to the opposing titles of General and Sheikh with no qualifications to show for any of them. With the dispersal of the armed local men, the city of Marka and the Lower Shabelle has no defence against the “Mongol Hoards” from Mudug. To say that this fits a pattern of activities by Hawiye militia to take over Lower Shabelle is not at all an exaggeration.



The oppression of indigenous population will not succeed without the backing of power in two forms: a) the usurpation of all positions in the Federal Government that are supposed to dispense justice to society and b) to subdue the whimpers and wails of these communities first by strategically placing Habar Gidir militia around the region and secondly by giving the positions of power in the region to the same Habar Gidir. From the breakdown of the Somali State, Habar Gidir militia has been pouring into Lower Shabelle.



For the past 20 years, the predatory “Mongols” from Mudug bent on annexing Lower Shabelle by any means used various techniques. At the expiry of Shariff government’s mandate, the then Minister of Internal affairs appointed a ton of Hawiye individuals to important positions in Lower Shabelle. All hail from Hawiye clan family:


Name Position Clan/subclan

 Ahmed Omar Mohamed Madane Chairman of Security Hawiye - Habar Gidir
Vice Chair of Social Affairs Omar Mohamed Elmi (Carrabeey) Hawiye - Murusade
General Secretary of Lower Shabelle Abdulahi Abdi Omar Hawiye – Wacdan
Chairman of Regional Humanitarian Aid Yusuf Mohamed Abdi Hawiye – Habar Gidir
Director of Land Planning Abdullahi Abdi Farah Hawiye – Habar Gidir
Coordinator of Finances Abdinasir Diini Rage Hawiye – Habar Gidir
General Accountant of Lower Shabelle Mohamed Ali Mumin Hawiye – Habar Gidir
Chair of Women’s Association Ikran Ahmed Ga’al Hawiye – Murusade
Vice-Chair of Humanitarian Aid Osman Mohamed Hawiye - Abgal
These nominations continue to serve in the above capacities under the current “government of hope” led by Hassan Ulusow. Out of the 12 most important positions of the Lower Shabelle, only two are allocated for the indigenous communities: the Governor of the region is held Abdulkari Mohamed Nur from the Garre clan and his deputy held by Abdulahi Muse Abukar from the Biimaal clan. Borrowing a page from the colonial masters, puppets from the indigenous communities are nominated to implement the sinister plans of Habar Gidir, and generally Hawiye, in Lower Shabelle.
A careful examination of the above table reveals that the circle of economic and land expropriation of Lower Shabelle is complete. Everything is in the hands of Hawiye and none of these individuals are indigenous to Lower Shabelle. 

 

 This complicit understanding between Hawiye to seize Lower Shabelle by any means necessary is tied to the explicit appropriation of the highest positions of the Somali government to avoid scrutiny. The people of Lower Shabelle have and will always remain excluded from any position that can make a difference to the justice system in Somalia. The will always be looking from the outside. The only time this communities saw a semblance of justice was during the reign of Alshabab. That is why they are always accused of Shabab sympathy every time they try to stand up for their rights. Just look at the majority of the Hawiye websites and you will see how the complaints of these communities are sidelined and how links to Shabab are manufactured to cover up for the aggression and injustice meted out to these communities.



The new government has not changed the situation. It has perpetuated it. In fact, the communities of Lower Shabelle are in the most difficult time now. The new government has entrenched the stranglehold that the Habar Gidir militias had on these communities. Again, they appointed another Habar Gidir to lead the Ministry of Interior. From Ali Mahdi’s time until now, the Minister of Interior is always allocated for Habar Gidir. And that is where the rotten apple resides.



To add insult to injury, Habar Gidir elders have complained to their fraternal caretakers of the Somali government. They wrote to the government complaining of Biimal aggression against the communities of Lower Shabelle. What a folly! Somalis say that Arabs commit injustice against you but then cover their folly in the name of the Prophet before you can (Carabta inta ku nabto ayay Nabiga kaaga hormartaa). Only in this case, Hawiye are covering their injustice under the rug of someone they know will take their side. The letter is just a show off for those of us who do not have a clue.



Hassan Ulusow’s government depends on Habar Gidir militia. It is an NGO run by Indhacadde and company. Like all great poets, my friend, The Great Poet, Togane, described the new government as “Dulmi Jadiid” – The New Injustice. He had a premonition and it has come true!



A nation without justice will not exist as a nation. One cannot cherry-pick justice either. You cannot choose your own definition of justice. Justice has a universal definition, universal parameters and therefore should be implemented universally. Without the universal application of justice in Somalia, the social chaos will not be over and Hassan Ulusow’s government is limping towards it coffin. That coffin, like all the coffins of governments before it, is on the shoulders of Habar Gidir.



Nur Bahal
Toronto, Canada
Attachments

 1. Letter of Hawiye Elders to Somali Government
2. The Banana Wars: Fighting for Plenty by Christian Webersik

SOMALIA-POLITICS: No End In Sight To Banana War-war over Bimaal Lands

 How Hawiye Habar Gidir Subdued and took the Dir Banana Farms of Jammam and the war over Bimaal Lands

 

By Moyiga Nduru

 

 

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Apr 24 1996 (IPS) - A banana war between two of Somalia’s main warlords is underway over the control of the lucrative banana export trade to Europe.

The forces of Gen. Mohamed Farah Aideed, the self-proclaimed president of Somalia, are pitted against the militiamen of his former financier-turned-foe, Ali Hassan Osman “Atto”, and the fighting has been fierce.


Aideed needs the revenues, estimated at around 800,000 dollars a month, to pay his soldiers as he tries to establish his control in the Bay and Bakol regions and take on the Rahenweyne clan. Atto, in a lose alliance with another self-proclaimed president, Ali Mahdi Mohammed based in northern Mogadishu, wants to deny him.
Renewed clashes beginning last month have left scores of people dead, including Atto’s son shot by a sniper, as business leaders and elders attempt to negotiate a truce.


“We are doing our best to stop the fighting. People phone me every day from Mogadishu that they are working very hard to stop the carnage,” Hussein Ali Dualleh of the Nairobi-based Somali Affairs Monitoring Committee told IPS.


“What’s happening in Mogadishu is not a political war. It’s purely an economic war. A war sparked by an attempt to control the port of Merca and Somalia’s lucrative banana trade. That’s why the fighting is not being joined by other Somali factions,” says the former Somali ambassador to Kenya.

Merca, a small and ancient port some 90 kms south of Mogadishu, is Aideed’s economic lifeline. “The port was renovated by two tiny foreign firms — an Italian company called Somali Fruit and an American company called Sombana — when the main port of Mogadishu was closed by Ali Mahdi following a quarrel over the banana trade last year,” Dualleh explained.

“The two companies renovated Merca and pay Aideed for every carton they export 20 cents. That comes roughly to about 800,000 dollars a month during the peak season from April to August,” he says.

Additional levies bring in an additional 200,000 dollars to Aideed’s coffers each month.

Atto and Ali Mahdi blocked Aideed from using Mogadishu port last October. Fighting again flared in March when Atto demanded that the warlord either share the revenues from Merca or see that port closed.


In the battle that followed, Aideed’s forces were overrun. A full-scale war was averted after elders of the Habir Gedir clan, to which the two warlords belong, persuaded Atto’s militia to withdraw.
As they pulled back to Mogadishu, Atto’s militia felt “humiliated and bitter”, according to a Somali elder here who refused to be named, “and they immediately attacked Aideed’s forces. That’s the origin of the present conflict.”


Before Somalia collapsed into the anarchy of warlord politics with the overthrow of former dictator Siad Barre in 1991, the country was earning some 20 million dollars annually from banana exports. That represented around 15 percent of the country’s total export earnings.


The money now goes to whoever can control the fertile Lower Shabelle region and a port. Fearing that he may lose out on the banana trade, Ali Mahdi has built his own port of Al Eel Maan, 30 kms north of Mogadishu.

The current round of fighting comes at a time when the majority of Somalis struggle to survive. With the withdrawal of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in 1995 and the sharp drop in the number of foreign aid agencies willing to risk operating in Somalia, jobs are scare.


A recent report by the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organisation warned that poor harvests due to drought and insecurity in parts of the country have led to sharp rises in the cost of food and, with the low purchasing power of most Somalis, has caused pockets of malnutrition.


Between 1991 and 1992, some 300,000 people died of starvation and famine-related diseases as a result of the civil strife, prompting the ill-fated four billion-dollar U.S. and U.N. intervention.
Aideed, whose armed opposition to the mission led to its demise, last June declared himself president of Somalia. He has appointed a government, announced a budget, tried to collect taxes and enforce his authority from his south Mogadishu headquarters. Only Libya has recognised him.


He is resisted by the other warlords, not least Ali Mahdi and his Abgal clan, which retains control of the northern half of a divided Mogadishu. In other parts of the country, clan-based statelets have emerged and, since 1991, the north-western region has proclaimed itself independent as Somaliland.


Last week, several small Somali political parties formed a consultation group here to seek a peaceful solution to their country’s agony after the failure of repeated attempts brokered by neighbouring Ethiopia and the Organisation of African Unity. But the meeting was not attended by Aideed, Ali Mahdi or Atto.

“I think the conference was just a political gimmick to show the world that they were still alive and kicking,” says Dualleh. “A conference to bring peace in Somalia should not be held in a hotel in Nairobi. It should be held in Somalia and the deliberations should take at least three months, not four days.”


However, the spokesman for the group, Mohamed Awale, justified the peace initiative. “The people of Somalia are suffering simply because there is no government in their country and their leaders cannot agree to produce one,” he stressed.


Somalia's post-conflict banana harvest revival
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/07/somalia-post-conflict-banana-harvest-revival-150714074855951.html


https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249508704133?needAccess=true&journalCode=crea20

http://www.ipsnews.net/1996/04/somalia-politics-no-end-in-sight-to-banana-war/

 

After Barren Years in Somalia, Signs of Growth in Bananas

     

n June, workers harvested bananas in Afgooye, Somalia, where the industry is being revived. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

---

By ISMA’IL KUSHKUSH
Saturday, December 13, 2014

AFGOOYE, Somalia — Armed with machetes, the men push their way through the densely packed rows of trees, emerging every few minutes with large bundles of green bananas over their shoulders.
A guard, his chest crossed with bullet belts, his hands cradling a Russian-made rifle, scans the tree line for intruders as the men throw the bananas on a trailer before dashing back into the plantation for another load.

When the trailer is piled high with bananas, it is pulled by tractor to a nearby warehouse, where the fruit is sorted and boxed for transport to destinations across Somalia and as far away as the Middle East.

After years of warfare that decimated an industry that was once the largest in Africa, the banana is making a tentative comeback in Somalia. Farms are stepping up production and eyeing overseas markets that have been dormant for years.
“Last April we exported to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 23 years,” said Kamal Haji Nasir, 30, whose father, owns this plantation in Afgooye, a town on the Shebelle River, about 45 minutes’ drive from Mogadishu. “We are excited and hopeful.”
For more than two decades, Somalia was the epitome of a failed state — a country rife with war, anarchy, famine, piracy and terrorism. Many of those problems persist — there has been a recent surge in attacks by Shabab militants, the government is riven with infighting and the United Nations has been warning of a growing risk of famine — but the country has nonetheless made some progress in the past few years.

Somalia elected a new president and adopted a constitution in 2012, bringing some stability, and attracting pledges of aid from international donors. Somali pirates, who once threatened international shipping in the Indian Ocean, have largely been contained and the Shabab have lost their grip over many towns.

“By any measure, Somalia today is in a better situation than it has been for the past 23 years,” said Nicholas Kay, the United Nations’ special representative for Somalia.

That stability has allowed farmers like Mr. Nasir, who studied agriculture at Mogadishu University, to return to a business that has been in his family for four generations.

Banana farming was brought to the fertile Shebelle and Juba river basins in the southern part of the country by Italian colonists in the 1920s. Soon, bananas became a major staple of Somali cuisine, consumed with rice or pasta, or just as a fruit, and farmers began exporting to Italy and the Middle East. With investment by Italian and American fruit companies, the banana trade reached its peak in the 1980s, led by the brand Somalita, which was partly owned by De Nadai, an Italian company. In 1990, Somalia’s banana exports were worth $96 million, according to Mohamood Abdi Noor, a former World Bank agricultural expert.

“The industry was doing very well and moving forward,” said Hasan Haji Osman, an agricultural consultant, who previously worked for Italian and Somali fruit companies.

That all came to a halt when civil war broke out in 1991. The government collapsed, and Somalia became a battleground in which warlords and Islamic extremists vied for control and pirates became the scourge of the surrounding seas. In what became known as “the banana wars,” rival warlords fought to control exports of the fruit as a source of hard currency. The once-thriving banana industry fell apart. Irrigation systems were damaged, plantations were abandoned, farmers were displaced and storage facilities and ports destroyed.

Mr. Osman shook his head sadly as he recalled farms lying damaged and unattended.
“What was in my head were the banana farms with no workers” and destroyed irrigation systems, he said. “I was thinking about that more than my family.”

The bananas harvested in Afgooye are sent to destinations as far away as the Middle East. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

---

For those who continued to farm, the breakdown of supply chains and transport links proved to be disastrous. “There were no markets for our bananas,” said Abu Bakr Hirabe, 70, who has been farming bananas in Afgooye for decades. “We lost a lot of money.”

As the security situation began improving a few years ago, Mr. Hirabe, along with other banana farmers, set about trying to rebuild the industry. They repaired irrigation systems, hired new workers and security guards and set their sights on markets overseas. In 2011 they established a company, FruitSome, to market and export their bananas.

Mr. Hirabe said FruitSome had contacted Del Monte, Dole and fruit companies in the Middle East, but the response so far has been mixed.
Dole, which has in the past invested there, said it was cautious about committing to Somalia.
“The Somali banana industry has potential,” Xavier Roussel, the marketing and communication director at Dole Fresh Fruit Europe in Hamburg, Germany, said in an email. But, he added, “right now it seems difficult to develop any agriculture program in Somalia because of the local situation.”
The banana farmers, however, have had some success connecting with regional buyers, with some help from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

The FAO helped organize a conference in Dubai this year at which Somali businesses exhibited their goods to an international audience for the first time in years. FruitSome had its bananas on display.
“We let them taste them and they were surprised,” said Omar Farah, a FruitSome representative. “Some asked us, ‘How can we order this?’ ”

Since then, FruitSome has exported five containers to the Middle East and hopes that some of the contacts forged at the conference will yield further gains.

Somali bananas, experts say, have several advantages that make them marketable, including easy and short access to seaports from farms and proximity to markets in the Middle East.
And, aficionados say, they taste great.

“Sweet, slightly sour, creamy vanilla,” is how Edward Baars, an agricultural engineer with CGIAR, a group of research organizations, described their taste. “The quality of Somali bananas is near unmatched in taste and texture which is due to the unique growing conditions.”

Despite that, experts say that considerable issues need to be addressed before Somalia can once again become a leading banana exporter. Mr. Noor said that irrigation and drainage systems, roads and storage facilities all needed to be improved, as did quality control and packaging. And, he added, security was still an issue.

According to Jose Lopez of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the country needs to attract more private investment to rebuild the industry.

Mr. Farah of FruitSome, however, said he was optimistic about the future.

“When you try a Somali banana,” he said, “you can tell the difference.”

Source: New York Times

 

 

 

A prominent Bimal woman describes the post-war situation in Lower Shabelle: “in the past, land was seized with the pen, today, land is seized by gunpoint.”25 This notion is reiterated by a Somali employed by the World Bank. He states that “the last ten years of the military government, injustice was done using the pen, using government machinery. But in the last twelve years, injustice was done using guns.”26 He believes that “the key to conflict is

injustice. And inequitable, non merit based use of resources.”27 Accordingly, he argues that “injustice was the main accentuating [force] but now appears as if it is a resource conflict.”28

 

Another Bimal politician from the Shabelle region argues that unjust practices of land tenure and unequal resource distribution were rooted in the colonial regime:  After independence, the Italians have tried their best to introduce the element of [...] giving [people from the central regions] land titles. The colonial settlement policy was substituted by another national settlement policy followed by the administrations which have succeeded the Italian colonial administration. The local populations have been deprived from everything, their have been deprived of their political representation through electoral fraught, they have been deprived from having any access to any economic resources of the nation. There was a policy specifically engineered for their

marginalisation. After 1969, the socialist regime also followed the same path covering itself with ideological colours. And when that period was over at the beginning of the 1990s, the Hawiye

invasion took place spearheaded specifically by the Haber Gedir had led to the deprivation of the local population both in the Lower Shabelle region as well as in the Juba regions.29

In 1994, when banana production resumed in Lower Shabelle, the American firm Dole challenged De Nadai’s near monopoly; the latter’s banana plantations covered some 6,000 hectares.30 With two multinational corporations operating, both through local subsidiaries, Dole-Sombana31 and De Nadai-Somalfruit32, banana production recovered. Somalia’s banana production reached 80 per cent of the pre-war production in 1997, with an estimated 9,000

 

 

 Fighting for the Plenty: The Banana Trade in Southern Somalia

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24085750_Fighting_for_the_Plenty_The_Banana_Trade_in_Southern_Somalia

 

Taariikhda Madaxweynaha Galmudug Axmed Ducaale Geelle(Xaaf)

 

May 4, 2017

Waxaa arbacadii magaalada Cadaado lagu doortay Axmed Ducaale Geelle(Xaaf)  isaga oo noqon doona madaxweynaha KMG ah ee maamulka Galmudug labada sano ee soo socota.
Axmed Ducaale Geelle(Xaaf), waxaa uu Galkacyo  ku dhashay 1949-kii, isla magaaladaas ayuu ku soo qaatay waxbarashada hoose/dhexe.

Mr. Xaaf waxaa uu sidoo kale wax ku bartay magaalada Muqdisho, dugsi sare Jamaal Cabdinasir kadib waxaa uu dhaqaalaha ka dhameeyay Jaamacadda umadda Soomaaliyeed 1976-dii.

Dhanka shaqada, waxaa uu ka shaqeeyay bangiga dhexe 1975-1979-kii, waxaa uu bruburkii kadib aasaasay shirkadda dhismaha ee ADCO Groups 1993dii oo Dib u hawlagisay Garoonka NO 50 iyo Dekada Ceel Macaan ee Gobolka Shabellaha Dhexe intii u dhaxeysay 1992-2011-kii .

Axmed Ducaale Geelle(Xaaf), waxaa uu hirgeliyay Shirkadii Dhoofka Mooska ee Sambana taasoo Xiriir la lahayd Dole Group oo Mareykanka  laga lahaa, waxaana Ku diirsaday oo ka faa’idestay  mashruucaasi  Kumanaan Garab rarato iyo Xirfadlayaal arimaha wax soo saarka ah .

Sidoo kale Mudane Xaaf waa aasaasihii iyo hawlgeliyihii diyaaraddii ugu horeysay ee ka hawlgasha Somaliya (Daallo Airlines),  waxa kale ee uu Ceelal Biyood u sameeyay xoola dhaqato Soomaaliyeed Gaar ahaan Gobolada Sh/Hoose Hiiraan Galgaduud iyo Mudug.

Arimaha Dib u heshiisiinta ayuu ku laha door weyn Xaaf oo ka mid ahaa ganacstada maalgaliyay isku keenida iyo Walaalaynta Beelah Soomaaliyeed.

Axmed Ducaalle Geele Xaaf Sanadkii 2000 waxaa uu noqday xildhibaan, waxaana lagu xusuustaa gacantii uu ku lahaa fududaynta ergooyinkii Somaaliyeed ee ka qaybgashay Shirkii Magaalada Carta ee Wadanka Jabuuti, laguna soo doortay Madaxweyne Cabdiqaasim Salaad Xasan,waxa uuna Xildhibaan soo ahaa illaayo sanadkii tagay ee 2016-kii.

Shaqooyinkii uu soo maray ka hor Ganacsigiisa iyo Siyaasada Axmed Xaaf waa Mudadii burburka ka hore Wuxuu la soo shaqeeyay qaar ka mid ah Hay’adaha Qaramada Midoobe sida WFP, Save Children, FAO  ACRC SOS Canoko.

Ugu dambayn Madaxweyne Xaaf wuxuu ku hadlaa marka laga Tago Luuqadeena Hooyo Sadex luuqadood oo  kala ah Ingiriis, Carabi Iyo Talyaani.

Banana Wars of Somalia


https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249508704133?needAccess=true&journalCode=crea20

http://www.ipsnews.net/1996/04/somalia-politics-no-end-in-sight-to-banana-war/

SOMALIA-POLITICS: No End In Sight To Banana War

By Moyiga Nduru

 

 

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Apr 24 1996 (IPS) - A banana war between two of Somalia’s main warlords is underway over the control of the lucrative banana export trade to Europe.

The forces of Gen. Mohamed Farah Aideed, the self-proclaimed president of Somalia, are pitted against the militiamen of his former financier-turned-foe, Ali Hassan Osman “Atto”, and the fighting has been fierce.


Aideed needs the revenues, estimated at around 800,000 dollars a month, to pay his soldiers as he tries to establish his control in the Bay and Bakol regions and take on the Rahenweyne clan. Atto, in a lose alliance with another self-proclaimed president, Ali Mahdi Mohammed based in northern Mogadishu, wants to deny him.
Renewed clashes beginning last month have left scores of people dead, including Atto’s son shot by a sniper, as business leaders and elders attempt to negotiate a truce.


“We are doing our best to stop the fighting. People phone me every day from Mogadishu that they are working very hard to stop the carnage,” Hussein Ali Dualleh of the Nairobi-based Somali Affairs Monitoring Committee told IPS.


“What’s happening in Mogadishu is not a political war. It’s purely an economic war. A war sparked by an attempt to control the port of Merca and Somalia’s lucrative banana trade. That’s why the fighting is not being joined by other Somali factions,” says the former Somali ambassador to Kenya.

Merca, a small and ancient port some 90 kms south of Mogadishu, is Aideed’s economic lifeline. “The port was renovated by two tiny foreign firms — an Italian company called Somali Fruit and an American company called Sombana — when the main port of Mogadishu was closed by Ali Mahdi following a quarrel over the banana trade last year,” Dualleh explained.

“The two companies renovated Merca and pay Aideed for every carton they export 20 cents. That comes roughly to about 800,000 dollars a month during the peak season from April to August,” he says.

Additional levies bring in an additional 200,000 dollars to Aideed’s coffers each month.

Atto and Ali Mahdi blocked Aideed from using Mogadishu port last October. Fighting again flared in March when Atto demanded that the warlord either share the revenues from Merca or see that port closed.


In the battle that followed, Aideed’s forces were overrun. A full-scale war was averted after elders of the Habir Gedir clan, to which the two warlords belong, persuaded Atto’s militia to withdraw.
As they pulled back to Mogadishu, Atto’s militia felt “humiliated and bitter”, according to a Somali elder here who refused to be named, “and they immediately attacked Aideed’s forces. That’s the origin of the present conflict.”


Before Somalia collapsed into the anarchy of warlord politics with the overthrow of former dictator Siad Barre in 1991, the country was earning some 20 million dollars annually from banana exports. That represented around 15 percent of the country’s total export earnings.


The money now goes to whoever can control the fertile Lower Shabelle region and a port. Fearing that he may lose out on the banana trade, Ali Mahdi has built his own port of Al Eel Maan, 30 kms north of Mogadishu.

The current round of fighting comes at a time when the majority of Somalis struggle to survive. With the withdrawal of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in 1995 and the sharp drop in the number of foreign aid agencies willing to risk operating in Somalia, jobs are scare.


A recent report by the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organisation warned that poor harvests due to drought and insecurity in parts of the country have led to sharp rises in the cost of food and, with the low purchasing power of most Somalis, has caused pockets of malnutrition.


Between 1991 and 1992, some 300,000 people died of starvation and famine-related diseases as a result of the civil strife, prompting the ill-fated four billion-dollar U.S. and U.N. intervention.
Aideed, whose armed opposition to the mission led to its demise, last June declared himself president of Somalia. He has appointed a government, announced a budget, tried to collect taxes and enforce his authority from his south Mogadishu headquarters. Only Libya has recognised him.


He is resisted by the other warlords, not least Ali Mahdi and his Abgal clan, which retains control of the northern half of a divided Mogadishu. In other parts of the country, clan-based statelets have emerged and, since 1991, the north-western region has proclaimed itself independent as Somaliland.


Last week, several small Somali political parties formed a consultation group here to seek a peaceful solution to their country’s agony after the failure of repeated attempts brokered by neighbouring Ethiopia and the Organisation of African Unity. But the meeting was not attended by Aideed, Ali Mahdi or Atto.

“I think the conference was just a political gimmick to show the world that they were still alive and kicking,” says Dualleh. “A conference to bring peace in Somalia should not be held in a hotel in Nairobi. It should be held in Somalia and the deliberations should take at least three months, not four days.”


However, the spokesman for the group, Mohamed Awale, justified the peace initiative. “The people of Somalia are suffering simply because there is no government in their country and their leaders cannot agree to produce one,” he stressed.

 

 

Waa kuma madaxweynaha xilkiisa lagu muransan yahay ee Xaaf 

Lahaanshaha sawirka .

Image caption Xaaf wuxuu diiday in xilka laga qaaday

Axmed Ducaale Geelle (Xaaf) waxaa lagu tilmaamaa in uu yahay nin ka duwanaan kara madaxda kale ee maamul goboleedyada.

Mar waa oday dhaqameed oo wuxuu ka mid ahaa odayaashii dhaqanka ee ka qayb galay shirkii Carta ee horraantii 2000. Xilligaas ayuuna siyaasadda si toos ah ugu soo biiray.
Xilligaasi ka hor lama oran karo siyaasadda Soomaaliya kuma lug lahayn. Wuxuu ka mid ahaa raggii aadka u taageeri jiray Jeneraal Maxamed Faarax Caydiid.

Siyaasadda wuxuu kaga soo biiray waddadii uu markii horeba jeexday ee dhanka dhaqanka maadaama hannaanka wax qeybsiga uu ahaa, yahayna 4.5.
Wuxuu miisaan siyaasadeed iyo mid dhaqan ku leeyahay gobolka Galmudug iyo magaalada Muqdisho oo muddo uu ku noolaa.
Dhan kale, waa nin ganacsade ah oo tan iyo billowgii todobaatameeyadii ku soo jiray ganacsiga Soomaaliya.

• Shan arrimood oo “fududeeyay” in la rido madaxda Galmudug iyo Hirshabelle
• Shan arrimood oo diinta la xiriira oo baraha bulshada Soomaalida qabsaday
• Maxaa horyaallo ra'iisul wasaaraha la magacaabay?

Sanadihii sagaashameeyadii, wuxuu ka mid ahaa ganacsatadii dibadda u dhoofin jirtay mooska Soomaaliya. Wuxuu xiriir wanaagsan la lahaa shirkadda khudaarta ee Dole, oo Maraykanka laga leeyahay.
Shirkaddaas oo madax uu ka ahaan jiray Xaaf iyo mid kale oo lagu magacaabo Somalfruit ayaa mooska Soomaaliya caalamka u iibgeyn jiray.
Isla sanadahaa, wuxuu aad u kobciyay hantidiisa ma guurtada ah ee uu ku leeyahay gobollada qaar ee Soomaaliya.
Wuxuu ka mid ah ahaa dadkii billaabay in dayaaradaha ay ka shaqeeyaan Soomaaliya. Wuxuu dhisay garoonka dayaaradaha ee Lambar-50, inkastoo hadda uusan gacantiisa ku jirin.
Wuxuu horraantii sagaashameeyadii, Muqdisho iyo qaybo ka mid ah bartamaha iyo koofurta Soomaaliya ka hirgaliyey xafiisyada iyo duullimaadyada shirkadda dayaaradaha ee Daallo oo ilaa iyo hadda ay maamulaan xubno ka mid ah qoyskiisa.
Siyaasadda, taajirnimada, galaangalka siyaasadeeda, aqoontiisa hoose oo dhisan, iyo shabakadaha uu ku leeyahay gobollada dalka, waxay u saamaxeen in dhowr goor uu xubin ka noqdo baarlamaanka Soomaaliya.
Baarlamaanka kaliya ee uu ka maqnaa tan iyo dawladdii Carta waa kan iminka jira, taa bedelkeeda, wuxuu hantiyey madaxtinimada maamul goboleedka Galmudug.
Waxaa lagu tilmaamaa in uu yahay nin garanaya sida dadka loola saaxiibo, dhanka kalena wuxuu ku xeeldheer sida loo qaato go'aanno u baahan calool adeyg.
Sidaa darteed, waa go'aan laga filan karo in uu ku adkeysto diimadiisa ah in xilka madaxweynaha Galmudug laga qaaday, ka dib markii xubno ka mid ah baarlamaanka maamulka ay ku andacoodeen.

Maamul Goboleedyo ayaa la saftay Xaaf

Markii Khilaafka uu xoogeystay ka dib, madaxweynayaasha maamul goboleedyada qaar ee Soomaaliya ayaa soo saaray warsaxaafadeed ay ku cambaaraynayaan xildhibaanno sheegay in ay xilka ka qaadeen madaxweynaha Galmudug Axmed Ducaale Geelle Xaaf.
Warsaxaafadeedka oo ay ku wada xusnaayeen madaxweynaha Puntland Cabdiwali Maxamed Cali Gaas, kan Jubbaland Axmed Maxamed Islaam, Koonfur Galbeed Shariif Xasan Sheekh Aadan, kan Hirshabeelle Maxamed Cabdi Waare iyo Galmudug Axmed Ducaale Geelle ayaa sidoo kale lagu cambaareeyay farogalin la sheegay in dowladda dhexe ay ku hayso arrimaha Galmudug.
Madaxtooyada Jubbaland ayaa BBC-da u xaqiijisay in ay warsaxaafadeedka qeyb ka tahay, balse maamul goboleedyada kale ayaan wali dhankooda ka hadlin in warsaxaafadeedkan ay wax ka og yihiin.
Madaxweynayaasha ayaa madaxda dowladda dhexe ugu baaqay in ay dib uga laabato go'aanka lagu taageeray hadalka xildhibaanada Cadaado, waxaana laga digay in talaabadan ay qalqal siyaasadeed iyo mid amni ka abuuro karto gudaha dalka.
Ugu dambeyntii madaxweynayaasha ayaa shaaciyay in ay shir degdeg ah ay isugu tagayaan magaalada Kismaayo si looga wada xaajoodo arrimaha taagan. Shirkan ayaa waxaa horey ugu baaqay madaxweynaha Jubbaland Axmed Maxamed Islaam.
Dhanka kale madaxweynaha Galmudug Axmed Ducaale Geelle Xaaf ayaa mar uu BBC-da waraysi siiyay waxa uu waxbo kama jiraan ku tilmaamay xil ka qaadis la sheegay in ay ku sameeyeen qaar ka mid ah xildhibaanada, wuxuuna intaas ku daray in dastuurka Galmudug uu qabo in aanan madaxweynaha xilka laga qaadi karin lixda bilood ee ugu horeysa xilka, isaga uu hadda xilka hayo afar bilood uun.

Ma haystaan ciidammo u gaar ah

Galmudug waxaa ka hawlgala ciidammada dowladda federaalka haddii ay ahaan lahaayeen xoogga dalka iyo waliba kuwa nabad suggida oo si toos ah uga amar qaata dowladda dhexe.
War saxaafadeedkii isbuucii hore kasoo baxay wasaaradda arrimaha gudaha federaalka ee lagu taageeray xil ka qaadista madaxweyne Xaaf ayaa qodobka ugu dambeeya waxaa amar lagu siiyay ciidamada kala duwan ee Galmudug ku sugan in ay sugaan amniga, kana hortagaan wixii qalqal ku ah amniga.

• Khilaafka Khaliijka iyo siduu u kala qaybiyay Soomaaliya
• Maxaa sababay arrinta ninka lagu eedeeyey in uu nabiga u gafey?

Xasan Xayle oo arrimaha siyaasadda ka faalloodo wuxuu qabaa in madaxweyne Xaaf ku dadaalayo sidii uu Galmudug uga samayn lahaa ciidamo isaga si toos ah uga amar qaata, si awoodiis xukunka uu salka ugu dhigo.
Arrin kale oo muujinaysa in uu jiro isku tashi xag ciidan ayaa waxa ay tahay in guddoomiyaha baarlamaanka Galmudug Cali Gacal Casar oo mar BBC-da la hadlay wuxuu sheegay: "Halkan waxaa ka taagan arrin aad u cakiran oo ciidamadii la uruurinaayo, oo la isku duba ridayo, meel loo wado ma garanayno."
Gudoomiyaha oo la sheegay in xilka laga qaaday iyo Madaxweyne ku xigeenka ayaa diidan go'aan uu Xaaf ku taageeray xulafada Sucuudiga oo Qadar go'doomiyay.
Dowladda Soomaaliya ayaa sheegtay in arrinta Khaliijka dhexdhexaad ay ka tahay.