Somalia’s Southern War

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Al-Shabaab's policies and activities in the Jubba River Valley, based on research with 41 people who were either recently displaced from the Valley or have relatives living there. Since the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991, powerful militias tied to major clans have vied for control of the Valley, often exploiting and predating marginalized groups, especially the farming communities known as Somali Bantus. Al-Shabaab has done likewise, extorting considerably higher levels of harvests, ‘taxes’, and remittances from Somali Bantus than from Somalis from the major clans. Al-Shabaab also imposes stringent penalties for non-compliance with their rules, sometimes resulting in eviction from long-held farmland. This marginalization demonstrates that a just and sustainable peace in Somalia will depend on far more effective efforts to protect the rights of Somalia's oppressed populations.