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SOMALIA: SWEDEN'S ARREST SHEDS LIGHT ON SOMALI TRIBAL SYSTEM October 20, 2005
Somali people have never been divided this much for a long time. People thought the civil war was over and seeing things through tribal lenses was in the past. That was before Monday when a former high ranking police official and militia commander, Mr. Abdi Hassan Awale (Qaybdiid) was arraigned in Sweden for genocide crimes.
Somali tribal fabrics cannot be understood by non-Somalis and many Somali natives who grew up outside of the country. In Somalia’s clan system, you belong to your father’s clan and he belongs to his father’s, no matter how much weight from your mother’s side you carry in your blood. Even if your mother, her father, her mother and your father’s mother all belong to the same clan but your father’s father is from another one, you belong to the later one. Sweden’s sudden arrest of Mr. Qeybdiid exposed the fundamental importance of clan lineage among Somalis wherever they are in the world.
Throughout Somalia and around the world Somalis interpreted this arrest differently. For instance, there were protests in Mogadishu where Mr. Qaybdiid’s clan is dominant, but not in Kismayo, Hargeisa, Bossaso and other large cities. This clearly shows Mr. Qaybdiid is a hero to many while others either don’t care about the whole situation or think he deserves what he got. In Minneapolis, Somali Diaspora capital, people are equally divided. Many young men in Karamel Somali shopping mall, disturbed by what happened were organizing themselves to create a united front in order to release their fallen hero. After all, Mr. Qaybdid is a war hero to thousands and thousands of Somalis. On the other side of the city, many patrons in Starbuck coffee shop which is famous among Somalis see it differently. These men say they are not sure if Mr. Qaybdid is criminal or not, but Sweden’s action was long overdue and all warlords who are considered as heroes because of the blood of innocent Somali people should be brought to justice – abroad, if not in Somalia.
This arrest uncovered how divided Somalia is. A Somali intellectual who subscribes to Mr. Qaybdiid’s clan told SomaliNet, they are not defending him if he is proven war criminal but what they don’t accept is that other men who have more blood on their hands hold the highest ranks of the government. "We are not asking immunity for our fighters but the punishment must be across the board" He said.
To sum it up, Somalis are and will be for some foreseeable future as divided as ever before.