INTRODUCTION

In the civil war of the last ten years, the entire population of Somalia have suffered from famine, disease and death. However, the minorities inhabiting the Banadir coastal areas suffered disproportionately as they were defenceless. They remain the most vulnerable group in the whole country, exposed to persistent abuse of their human rights. 

Historically it is very important to note that before the emergence of the colonial period, Mogadishu, Merca, and Brava were flourishing city states ruled by Sultans since the middle ages.

According to Prof. Lee Cassanelli, an American scholar expert on Somali minority clans, and we quote “ Though scarcely noted in the media analyses, the fact is that the war in Somalia has essentially been a struggle over the country’s resources-- notably the rich farm lands in the south, and the export centre along the coast.  If we look at the major arenas of conflict during the past three years, we find that they lie in the fertile valleys of the Shabeelle and Gabber rivers, and in the major port towns of Mogadishu, Merca, Brava, and Kismayu.” Prof. Cassanelli continues to wrote,” These were districts which the former dictatorial regime of Mohamed Siyad Barre had begun to expropriate, and which the contending armed militias now claim for themselves.  The future development of these agricultural and export enclaves promise to enrich any group that control them.  To complicate matters, most of the original occupants of these settled farming communities and commercial centres belong to minority clans.  Despised by the warlords and largely unarmed, they have been disproportionately victims of the brutal civil war.  Many have been forcibly displaced or intimidated by armed militias drawn from the nomadic countryside; tens of thousands have fled to Kenya.”

Today most of the original inhabitants of this region who are known as Somali Banadiri have been displaced, because of inter-clan fighting..

Hence, it will be very unfortunate to neglect the plight of these people whose homeland is contested among the majority nomadic tribes. This page will just do a bit of that.

Back to Benadir Page