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A woman's ordeal in the Somali conflict

By Mahamed Yasin mahamud [faraton] 

East African  University -- Puntland

Where there is war and conflict there is murder, looting, killing

and raping of innocent people. These incidences are common in many African countries, just as much as in Somalia.

The results of such conflicts are:      famine, hunger,

disease, refugees in an unending human  struggle for survival.  Faduma A.Jama experienced this tragedy. Her struggle for survival involved knocking on people’s doors for help. She knocked at our door and we  gave her some meal.  And she told us about her experience.

Here is her story

  I married  in 1969 in Burco and had two daughters and three sons.

Economically things went well for us. We managed to build a

house and I set up a very successful clothes shop which became the

main source income for the family.

We were happy and prosperous.

But by the mid 1980s and at the height of the freedom struggle Siyad Barre’s government attacks on civilians increased and eventually emergency law was declared: curfews, 

economy sanctions, persecution, long term,

imprisonment and execution and clan tensions increased. We kept

track of the problems and the fighting [between the government and

opposing Somali national movement] through the radio broadcasts from

Ethiopia.

 We feared that the if  the SNM was defeated by the Barre forces  that would mean the end of our hopes for independence and freedom.

But  our dreams seemed to come true on May 27, 1988. SNM

forces captured most of the military bases. However, the situation worsened with the retaliation, and heavy ground artillery and air attacks by the Barre forces.

In those attacks my two daughters were injured and our house was

Destroyed.  As the clashes between the SNM and Barre forces escalated we decided  to leave Hargeisa.

We walked towards the Ethiopian border. We rested at many villages and then

continued our journey to [hart-shekha]in Ethoipia where we joined other refugees. We were registered and given region card. It was the worst

experience of my life. But despite our tragedy  and condition we continued in whatever way we could to support those who continued the struggle for our freedom and independence at home.

Thankfully, by the wish of

powerful Allah our country was liberated for the enemy in

1991. We sold our region card in order to pay for transport and our family

returned to my home town of Hargeisa , leaving the 

poverty stricken camps behind us.

Back home we used the old canvas from our tent in the camp to cover one of

the rooms in the destroyed house.

We invested the little remaining cash we had in livestock training. We

Had expected a better government and improved the conditions. But

that was  not the case. The truth was  that the  biggest snake  had

been beaten , but there were many others pretending to be friends

who remained hidden in that grass.

The instability that existed in Burco city exploded into a full-scale military conflict and fighting among tribal clans in

January 1992.

We were again forced to move to  Hargeisa where we found shelter within a public school

Wall enclosure in the Kiilka Shanaan district [Zonaa Five]..

I sold vegetables on a market stall to secure an income for my family

More fighting in Hargeisa  forced us to move again, this time to the

hills and mountain .

We had been caught in a conflict created by tribal politics.

"I had to beg from neighbours and nomads to get food

for my children only. I, myself, did not  care about my soul.

 "I never dreamed that my country could became like that

once the former regime was over thrown.

It was a bitter lesson for my life.   The peace agreement in

Sheikh in September 1992  allowed us to return home .This time we did not find any shelter. We settled in our house in public land  in

Kiilka Shanaad,  east side of Hargeisa city.

Faduma A.Jama’s husband is in Jigjiga. She told me that he is unemployed. One of her daughters was crippled and her sons scarred from burns

suffered in 1988.

Her sons are unemployed.  Now she has

exhausted all her savings and is penniless. She does  not have any business. She goes everyday knocking from door to door, asking for whatever help –meals, money to sustain her family

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