Somalia: Information on the Issa and the Issaq

Somalia's frontiers in 1976, with the adjacent states of Kenya and Ethiopia and the French Territory of the Afars and Issas (FTAI), were established while present-day Somalia was occupied by Great Britain and Italy before Somalian independence in 1960. [Irving Kaplan et al., Area Handbook for Somalia, (Washington: U.S. Government Printers, 1977), p.54. Attached pp.54-55, 158-161, 180-181.] The boundaries were fixed with little or no consideration for the territorial distribution of the Somali people. The same was true regarding the traditional livestock grazing patterns dictated by climatic factors that result in the pastoral nomads' regular seasonal migrations through most of the border areas. [Area Handbook for Somalia, p.54.] Independent Somalia has always been reluctant to accept these artificial borders that separate ethnic Somalis from their kinsmen in Somalia; in this case the separation of the Issa from other clan members within their Dir clan-family. [ibid. p.54., p.62.] To this end, the most important political issue in postindependence Somali had been the unification of all areas populated by ethnic Somalis in the Horn of Africa. [ibid. p.159.]

According to the DOS report for 1988, Djibouti is made up predominantly of the Issa, the ethnic group of the President and his ruling party. The most sizable minority are the Afar, followed by the Gadaboursi and the Issaq. [Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 1989), p.95.] The manager of COSTI, Centre for Italian Scholastic and Technical Organizations located in Toronto, suggests that the Issaq could account for up to 20% of the Djiboutian population. The DOS report in reiterating the dominant status of the Issa in the ruling party, the civil service, also contends that the military discriminates against the Afar, the Gadaboursi, and the Issaq. [ibid. p.98.]

As the manager of COSTI states, the Djiboutian government, eager to maintain the economic links it shares with Ethiopia and Somalia, has adopted a neutral stand regarding the internal activities of the countries that make up the Horn of Africa. This can be discerned in the media, which avoids reporting on "crime, violence, ethnic strife, and domestic politics in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. [ibid. p.97.] Consequently, public political protest is prohibited through the selective enforcement of laws requiring permits for mass public assembly and by short detention of persons without charge. [ibid. p.97.]

On 31 May 1988, about 400 Issaqs were arrested in Djibouti-ville for participating in an unauthorized public demonstration celebrating SNM military victories against the Somali government. Although most were released after a two week period, 18 were convicted and sentenced to 6-month prison terms. Appeal proved fruitless both on the convictions and the sentences. [ibid. p.96.] As the U.S. State Department notes, "the judiciary appears to be susceptible to government influence in cases of political interest." [ibid. p.96.]

According to the president of the North Somali Association of Montreal, there was an agreement signed between the Issa of Zeila and the predominantly Issaq SNM before April 1989. Among the reasons sighted was the need to oust Siyaad Barre's troops from the area, and to sever the economic power members of the Gadaboursi clan had in the area. After the agreement was signed, the SNM mounted a successful attack on Zeila. Government forces fled to Djibouti, leaving Zeila under SNM control.

The attached London based periodical, Africa Confidential, reports the SNM attack on the port of Zeila, the town of Loyada and several other places at the end of April 1989. The reasons given for the attack corroborate those put forward by the oral source. The Gadaboursi were reportedly taking over trade, not only from the Isaaq in Somalia, but also from the Issa on the Djiboutian side. ["Somalia: Trade Wars and Power Struggles", Africa Confidential, (London: Miramoor Publications Ltd., 26 May 1989), vol.30, No.11., p.7. ]

Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:

George Thomas Kurian, Encyclopedia of the Third World, Third Edition, vol.1., New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1987, pp.539-542.

Ahmed I. Samatar, Socialist Somalia Rhetoric and Reality, New York: Zed Books Ltd., 1988, pp. 11, 16-21.

David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar, Somalia Nation in Search of a State, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 32, 136-139.

"Information Package on Somalia", prepared by the Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation Centre, January 1989.