Southern Somalia Research Articles

The tadpole of Ptychadena schillukorum (Werner, 1908 “1907”) (Amphibia: Anura: Ptychadenidae)

The Ptychadenidae Dubois, 1987 are a frog family endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar (Frost 2008). Within the genus Ptychadena Boulenger, 1917 49 species are currently recognized as valid (Frost 2008), most of them breeding in temporary savanna ponds (Rödel 2000; Channing 2001; Channing & Howell 2006). In the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (PBR) in northern Benin this genus is extraordinary diverse. Here we recorded seven sympatric and partly syntopic Ptychadena species (Nago et al. 2006). The tadpoles of six West African species, P. bibroni (Hallowell, 1845), P. pumilio (Boulenger, 1920), P. oxyrhynchus (Smith, 1849), P. tellinii (Peracca, 1904), P. tournieri (Guibé & Lamotte, 1955) and P. trinodis (Boettger, 1881) have already been described (Lamotte & Zuber-Vogeli 1953; Guibé & Lamotte 1958; Lamotte et al. 1958, 1959; Lamotte & Perret 1961; Perret 1966; Rödel 2000; Rödel & Spieler 2000). Hence, P. schillukorum (Werner, 1908 “1907”) is the only West African savanna Ptychadena with an unknown tadpole. P. schillukorum ranges from Senegal, east to south-western Ethiopia and southern Somalia, south to Malawi, central Mozambique, south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and western Angola (Channing 2001; Nago et al. 2006). Recently it was reported from Egypt (Baha el Din 2006). It is hence either a very widespread savanna species or a member of a complex of cryptic species (see Nago et al. 2006 and Frost 2008 for synonyms of P. schillukorum). In West Africa it only occurs in drier savannas. In PBR these frogs breed in shallow savanna ponds, often in syntopy with Phrynobatrachus francisci Boulenger, 1912 and Phrynobatrachus natalensis (Smith, 1849) (Nago et al. 2006). The PBR is located in the Soudanian savanna zone in northern Benin (N 10°30-11°30, E 0°50-2°00). The climate is characterized by a short rainy season from late May or even June/July to early October. The mean annual precipitation is 1000 mm and the mean annual temperature is 27°C. For more details see Nago et al. (2006).

Mimesis and Mimicry in Dynamics of State and Identity Formation in Northern Somalia

In this article, mimesis and mimicry are used as analytical concepts to explore dynamics of state and identity formation in Somaliland and Puntland since the early 1990s. Mimesis captures endeavours to imitate well-established models of social and political organization. Mimicry involves the deceptive imitation of such models in order to reach a certain aim. In the particular setting of northern Somalia, miming and mimicking in state and identity formation are also related to conflict escalation. The article first presents relevant political and legal positions on state collapse and secession. This helps to grasp the theoretical and policy implications of the empirical material. Then, the establishment of Somaliland and Puntland through mimesis and mimicry is sketched. The outline of the repeated military confrontations between both sides, particularly the last round of fighting in and around the town of Laascaanood in late 2007, indicates the relation of state and identity formation to military conflict. These localized dynamics are embedded into the continuing conflict in southern Somalia that involves a number of internal and external actors. The article concludes that miming and mimicking underlie many of Somaliland's and Puntland's internal developments and their conflictive relationship. Moreover, since the conflict in northern Somalia concerns state formation, it might have far-reaching consequences for the future of Somalia as a whole. This finally leads to the suggestion that the international norms regarding state collapse and secession have to be re-evaluated in the light of the empirical realities at hand.

Prediction of a Rift Valley fever outbreak

El Niño/Southern Oscillation related climate anomalies were analyzed by using a combination of satellite measurements of elevated sea-surface temperatures and subsequent elevated rainfall and satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index data. A Rift Valley fever (RVF) risk mapping model using these climate data predicted areas where outbreaks of RVF in humans and animals were expected and occurred in the Horn of Africa from December 2006 to May 2007. The predictions were subsequently confirmed by entomological and epidemiological field investigations of virus activity in the areas identified as at risk. Accurate spatial and temporal predictions of disease activity, as it occurred first in southern Somalia and then through much of Kenya before affecting northern Tanzania, provided a 2 to 6 week period of warning for the Horn of Africa that facilitated disease outbreak response and mitigation activities. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective prediction of a RVF outbreak.

Multiple Virus Lineages Sharing Recent Common Ancestry Were Associated with a Large Rift Valley Fever Outbreak among Livestock in Kenya during 2006-2007

Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus historically has caused widespread and extensive outbreaks of severe human and livestock disease throughout Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula. Following unusually heavy rainfall during the late autumn of 2006, reports of human and animal illness consistent with RVF virus infection emerged across semiarid regions of the Garissa District of northeastern Kenya and southern Somalia. Following initial RVF virus laboratory confirmation, a high-throughput RVF diagnostic facility was established at the Kenyan Central Veterinary Laboratories in Kabete, Kenya, to support the real-time identification of infected livestock and to facilitate outbreak response and control activities. A total of 3,250 specimens from a variety of animal species, including domesticated livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, and camels) and wildlife collected from a total of 55 of 71 Kenyan administrative districts, were tested by molecular and serologic assays. Evidence of RVF infection was found in 9.2% of animals tested and across 23 districts of Kenya, reflecting the large number of affected livestock and the geographic extent of the outbreak. The complete S, M, and/or L genome segment sequence was obtained from a total of 31 RVF virus specimens spanning the entire known outbreak period (December-May) and geographic areas affected by RVF virus activity. Extensive genomic analyses demonstrated the concurrent circulation of multiple virus lineages, gene segment reassortment, and the common ancestry of the 2006/2007 outbreak viruses with those from the 1997-1998 east African RVF outbreak. Evidence of recent increases in genomic diversity and effective population size 2 to 4 years prior to the 2006-2007 outbreak also was found, indicating ongoing RVF virus activity and evolution during the interepizootic/epidemic period. These findings have implications for further studies of basic RVF virus ecology and the design of future surveillance/diagnostic activities, and they highlight the critical need for safe and effective vaccines and antiviral compounds to combat this significant veterinary and public health threat.

First Report of Citrus Canker Caused by Xanthomonas citri in Somalia.

Xanthomonas citri (synonym = Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri) (3) has been reported in several countries in Africa (1) but not Somalia. During 2006 and 2007, hyperplasia-type lesions, often surrounded by a water-soaked margin and yellow halo, typical of citrus canker caused by X. citri were found on 8- to 10-year-old lime (Citrus limetta) and grapefruit (Citrus × paradisi Macfed.) trees in northern and southern Somalia, respectively. Ten leaf samples diagnosed presumptively as citrus canker by Xac ImmunoStrip test kits (Agdia, Elkhart, IN) were mailed to the USDA Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit at Ft. Detrick, MD. To confirm the identification of X. citri, isolations were made from several lesions from each sample onto yeast-dextrose-CaCO3 (YDC) agar (2). Yellow, xanthomonad-like mucoid, convex colonies were purified and stored on YDC slants. Phenotypic tests were done as described (2), and real-time PCR assays were done using primers XCit8F and XCit5R with probe XCitP2 (N. W. Schaad, unpublished). For pathogenicity tests, cultures were grown overnight in liquid nutrient broth-yeast (4) medium adjusted to contain 1 × 105 CFU/ml and inoculated into leaves of lime seedlings with the blunt end of a 2-ml syringe. After 21 to 30 days in a lighted dew chamber (Model I-60DLM; Percival Scientific, Inc. Perry, IA) at 30/23°C day/night, symptoms were recorded. Cultures of sample S-1 (northern Somalia) from lime were phenotypically atypical of X. citri, PCR negative, and nonpathogenic. However, cultures of samples 3 to 7 (southern Somalia) from grapefruit were typical of X. citri and PCR positive; cultures 3 and 4 were tested for pathogenicity and produced erumpent lesions on lime. Isolations onto YDC agar resulted in typical mucoid, convex, yellow, PCR-positive colonies. To our knowledge, this is the first report of X. citri on citrus plants in Somalia. Strains S3 and S4 have been deposited in ICPB at Ft. Detrick, MD as ICPB 11650 and 11651, respectively.

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The Consumption of Khat and Other Drugs in Somali Combatants: A Cross-Sectional Study

BackgroundFor more than a decade, most parts of Somalia have not been under the control of any type of government. This “failure of state” is complete in the central and southern regions and most apparent in Mogadishu, which had been for a long period in the hands of warlords deploying their private militias in a battle for resources. In contrast, the northern part of Somalia has had relatively stable control under regional administrations, which are, however, not internationally recognized. The present study provides information about drug abuse among active security personnel and militia with an emphasis on regional differences in relation to the lack of central governmental control—to our knowledge the first account on this topic.Methods and FindingsTrained local interviewers conducted a total of 8,723 interviews of armed personnel in seven convenience samples in different regions of Somalia; 587 (6.3%) respondents discontinued the interview and 12 (0.001%) were excluded for other reasons. We assessed basic sociodemographic information, self-reported khat use, and how respondents perceived the use of khat, cannabis (which includes both hashish and marijuana), psychoactive tablets (e.g., benzodiazepines), alcohol, solvents, and hemp seeds in their units. The cautious interpretation of our data suggest that sociodemographic characteristics and drug use among military personnel differ substantially between northern and southern/central Somalia. In total, 36.4% (99% confidence interval [CI] 19.3%–57.7%) of respondents reported khat use in the week before the interview, whereas in some regions of southern/central Somalia khat use, especially excessive use, was reported more frequently. Self-reported khat use differed substantially from the perceived use in units. According to the perception of respondents, the most frequent form of drug use is khat chewing (on average, 70.1% in previous week, 99% CI 63.6%–76.5%), followed by smoking cannabis (10.7%, 99% CI 0%–30.4%), ingesting psychoactive tablets (8.5%, 99% CI 0%–24.4%), drinking alcohol (5.3%, 99% CI 0%–13.8%), inhaling solvents (1.8%, 99% CI 0%–5.1%), and eating hemp seeds (0.6%, 99% CI 0%–2.0%). Perceived use of khat differs little between northern and southern Somalia, but perceived use of other drugs reaches alarmingly high levels in some regions of the south, especially related to smoking cannabis and using psychoactive tablets.ConclusionsOur data suggest that drug use has quantitatively and qualitatively changed over the course of conflicts in southern Somalia, as current patterns are in contrast to traditional use. Although future studies using random sampling methods need to confirm our results, we hypothesize that drug-related problems of armed staff and other vulnerable groups in southern Somalia has reached proportions formerly unknown to the country, especially as we believe that any biases in our data would lead to an underestimation of actual drug use. We recommend that future disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs need to be prepared to deal with significant drug-related problems in Somalia.

Get an eyeful of this: a new species of giant spitting cobra from eastern and north-eastern Africa (Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae: Naja)

We describe a new species of giant spitting cobra, Naja ashei sp. nov., from eastern and north-eastern Africa. The species was previously regarded as a colour phase of the black-necked spitting cobra, N. nigricollis. However, mtDNA sequence data show it to be more closely related to N. mossambica than N. nigricollis. The new species is diagnosable from all other African spitting cobras by the possession of a unique clade of mtDNA haplotypes and a combination of colour pattern and scalation characteristics. Its distribution includes the dry lowlands of northern and eastern Kenya, north-eastern Uganda, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia.

Late Holocene environmental change in the coastal southern Somalia inferred from Achatina and rhizoliths

Surfaces of poorly cemented carbonate dunes of the coast of southern Somalia contain as exhumed bodies treelet rhizoliths and subfossil shells of the giant land snail Achatina. Present-day coastal dunes in southern Somalia are poorly vegetated and do not support living Achatinas. Thus, the presence of these subfossils provides evidence for a more humid period in the past: the subfossil giant land snails and the rhizoliths indicate a palaeoenvironment which was probably similar to the modern environment of the coastal belt of Kenya and of the southernmost corner of coastal Somalia, where living Achatinas are frequent and the forest–savannah mosaic vegetation type [Bonnefille, R., 1985. Evolution of the continental vegetation: the palaeobotanical record from East Africa. South African Journal of Science 81, 267–270] is widespread. According to radiometric ages of Achatina shells and geological observations, aridification process probably took place in the Late Holocene. Somali data are consistent with the known regional climatic trends.

II. Ethiopia's Military Action Against the Union of Islamic Courts and Others in Somalia: Some Legal Implications

Somalia has been without government since 1991. A transitional government was established in 2004 under the presidency of Abdullahi Yusuf, with the backing of the United Nations, the African Union (AU), the Arab League and the Inter-governmental Agency for Development (IGAD). The Government sat in Baidoa in southern Somalia from June 2005 until December 2006. In June 2006 the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of much of southern and central Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu, but not Puntland and Somaliland. They declared and tried to establish an Islamic State. Somalis were told to comply with stringent Islamic rules or face harsh punishment. In the meantime, efforts to achieve national reconciliation were ongoing under the auspices of IGAD, though without much success. It was reported that on 20 July 2006 Ethiopian troops crossed into Somalia. Ethiopia only admitted to having military trainers to help the Somali Government (estimated to be 400 military personnel). On 21 July, the UIC declared a ‘holy war’ against Ethiopia. In September 2006 the Somali interim President survived an assassination attempt in Baidoa. On 25 October 2006 Ethiopia said that it was ‘technically at war’ with the Islamic Courts. After few days the UIC claimed to have ambushed and killed Ethiopian troops near the Ethiopian border.1

A review of East and Central African species of Letheobia Cope, revived from the synonymy of Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, with descriptions of five new species (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)

The genus Letheobia Cope 1869 is revived for the “worm-like blind-snakes” which were assigned to the genus Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger 1843 by Roux-Estève in 1974 (her Groups IV to VII). Letheobia pallida is restricted to Zanzibar, and the specimens from Pemba Island, the East African coast, southern Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia are described as four new species. Three species included by Roux-Estève (1974) in the polyphyletic genus Typhlops Oppel, T. uluguruensis Barbour & Loveridge (Group II), T. obtusus Peters and T. decorosus Buchholz & Peters (Group V) are considered basal forms in the genus Letheobia and a related species, L. jubana sp. nov., is described from southern Somalia.

The AU Standby Force and the Challenge of Somalia

Let us recap. In December 2006, in response to what seemed like the imminent fall of the southern city of Baidoa to the forces of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), Ethiopian troops launched an offensive into Somalia in support of the country’s beleaguered interim federal government. Apparently catching the UIC off-guard, Ethiopian soldiers – backed by tanks, artillery, attack helicopters and fi xed-wing ground attack aircraft – quickly drove the UIC forces out of Mogadishu and most of the territory it had previously occupied. The remnants of the UIC fl ed to a rugged, forested corner of southern Somalia on Kenya’s border.

Cash‐based interventions: lessons from southern Somalia

Commodity distributions, the predominant relief response, are subject to growing criticism, while donors and humanitarian actors are increasingly viewing cash-based interventions as a viable alternative. This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on cash-based interventions by drawing on the experience of Action Contre la Faim in southern Somalia, where it has implemented cash for work programmes since 2004. The authors conclude that cash-based interventions are a feasible option in complex emergencies as well as in highly insecure environments as long as appropriate modalities are employed and objectives are clearly set in accordance with the needs and the context. Cash as a relief response offers wide-reaching possibilities for the future from both the perspective of the donor/agency and the standpoint of the beneficiary. It enables the beneficiaries to take control of the relief themselves and to adapt it to their individual requirements in a timely manner.

Nesting, overwintering, and conservation of the Crab Plover Dromas ardeola in central Eritrea

We describe 30 new nesting sites of the Crab Plover Dromas ardeola, the main breeding grounds of which were largely unknown, and for which fewer than 30 colonies had been confirmed since 1970. Our survey included 90 islands, 53% of those existing, in the Dahlak and Howakil archipelagoes, and off the coast of central Eritrea. Colony size varied between 20 and 400 nests. We estimate the numbers of Crab Plovers breeding in central Eritrea at 5000–6000 pairs, i.e. about 50% of the known world breeding population. We describe two cases of probable replacement clutches, a feature unrecorded in this species. Black Rats Rattus rattus seem unable to open Crab Plover eggs, and do not seem to be a threat. Crab Plover colonies are traditionally exploited by local fishermen for collection of eggs, an activity that has increased recently. Our new records solve only partially the problem of the ‘missing’ colonies that are required to account for the world wintering population of 60 000–80 000 birds, and thus other breeding sites remain to be discovered, probably in southern Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. We estimated that there are 4800–6500 Crab Plovers overwintering within central Eritrea, making it an important wintering ground for the species.

Aspects of Maay phonology and morphology

This paper presents a descriptive overview of the phonology and morphology of the Lower Jubba dialect of Maay, a language of southern Somalia. The paper highlights several points of typological, dialectological, and theoretical interest in this language. For example, the nominal morphology exhibits a somewhat unusual pattern of plural marking that interacts in a complex way with the gender marking system. Where relevant, comparisons are made between this dialect and other dialects of Maay and Somali, and speculation is made as to the historical origin of some of the unusual phonological and morphological phenomena observed in this dialect.

“When All Muslims Unite …”: Islamism, Identification, and Western Fears of Terrorism in Africa

The rapidly successful expulsion from Somalia in early January 2007 of Islamist faction the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) provides a tempting tactical model for countering terrorism in far-flung locations. Yet, in some respects, the success of the model was surprising. The Union of Islamic Courts took Mogadishu in early June 2006, and steadily expanded its control across the southern portion of Somalia, meeting little resistance. The UIC seemed so secure in its control of southern Somalia that, until the eve of its defeat, it boasted openly of ambitions of creating a united Islamic “Greater Somalia,” including all of breakaway Somaliland, Djibouti, and parts of Ethiopia. The operation was carried out by Ethiopian ground and air forces on behalf of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which was constituted through regional negotiations in Kenya more than two years ago but had never gained more than a tenuous hold in the provincial town of Baidoa, far from the capital of Mogadishu. The Ethiopians acted with the tacit approval of Washington, and received minimal participation from U.S. Special Forces advisers. Faced with overwhelming firepower from the Ethiopians, the Islamist faction fell like a house of cards, its leaders and militias melting away under cover of darkness rather than waging a fight. Their displacement and the subsequent installment of the TFG in Mogadishu was followed by U.S. air strikes in Mogadishu and along the Kenyan border against alleged Al Qaeda operatives allied to the deposed Islamists. Even before the Pentagon indicated whether or not those air strikes had hit their intended targets—Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese national suspected by the U.S. of being a long-time associate of Osama bin Laden based in East Africa, and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, two other alleged Al Qaeda operatives suspected in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa—U.S. military strategists were already indicating that the combined use of selective strikes and “surrogate forces” like the Ethiopians provided a “blueprint ... they hoped to use more frequently in counterterrorism missions around the globe.” Targeting suspected terrorists using military methods, however, is at best a dubious enterprise. Certainly, the killing and/or arrest of key known associates of Osama bin Laden has undermined and isolated the group’s core leadership. The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the supposed leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, however, did little to defuse the violent insurgency there. While the impact of the U.S. air strikes on possible terror-related activity in Somalia may always be uncertain, the effects of those attacks

Distribution and history of the Cape zebra (Equus capensis) in the Quarternary of Africa

The extinct Cape zebra (Equus cupensis Broom) was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909. Subsequent materials were reported from the hinterland of the Cape and into the Orange Free State, with records from Zimbabwe and Zambia, and 18 species were named. These were synonymised with the type binomial. Populations similar to the Cape zebra were described in East Africa as E. oldowayensis. Recently, specimens, also referable to the Cape zebra, have been recovered from Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, northwest Africa. The known temporal range of these Cape zebra populations is from Late Pliocene in East and South Africa and from Late Pleistocene in Egypt, to Middle Holocene in northeast and South Africa, and to Recent in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and the northeast of southern Somalia where it is represented by the extant E. grevyi, Grevy's zebra. The occlusal patterns of the lower cheek teeth (P3-M2) of the South African type, and individuals from the Ethiopian Omo Member G and the Egyptian Dakhleh Oasis Holocene pan silts are shown to be sufficiently similar to be considered to be conspecific within a single population.

Fighting for the Plenty: The Banana Trade in Southern Somalia

In this paper it is argued that economic interests by multinational corporations, local businessmen and faction leaders are significant elements in the perpetuation of civil violence in Somalia. This study examines the banana trade regime in southern Somalia in relation to conflict over export levies at the national level and farm land and water at the regional level. Small but influential groups come to have an economic interest in prolonged conflict. This viewpoint affirms that it can be misleading to associate war with complete collapse or breakdown of an economy—although it may certainly skew the development of an economy. Two further points arise in respect of such analyses. First, are the initial causes of violent conflict necessarily the same as the factors perpetuating this situation? Second, to what extent are more conventional explanations of conflict in Africa, such as ethnicity, religion and economic inequality, of relevance in this case?

Visible and Invisible Differences: The Somali Paradox

AbstractIn exploring the difficulties experienced by the traditionally politically uncentralised Somalis in establishing a stable and effective state, based on their ethnicity, this article compares ethnicity, nationalism and lineage identity. In this case, ethnicity and nationalism are local products, influenced but not created by the colonial experience. They have had to contend with the intractable force of segmentary lineage identity, which has proved extremely difficult to adapt and accommodate to the requirements of modern statehood. In its cultural context, agnation is all the more pervasive and powerful in constituting an ‘invisible’ bond, conceived by Somalis as a biologically based distinction like ‘race’. Unlike race, it is almost infinitely elastic and divisible. Ethnic identity, which rests on external distinctions such as language, culture and religion, cannot be broken down into a series of formally equivalent segments, but is less binding as a social force. Today, after the collapse of the state of Somalia in 1991, following protracted grass‐roots peace‐making between clans, two parts of the nation—the former British Somaliland, and the north‐eastern region of Somalia (‘Puntland’, based on the Majerteyn clan, and other closely related clans)—have developed separate local states. Although Somaliland claims complete independence, which Puntland does not, both polities incorporate parliamentary institutions that accommodate traditional, and modern political leaders and processes. The ex‐Italian residue, Southern Somalia, still without any form of government, is in what appears to be the final throes of its long‐running, fourteenth grandiose international ‘peace’ conference in Kenya. Thousands of delegates, in various configurations, have already spent over eighteen months in these talks. Although its embryonic constitution now recognises ‘clans’ as constituent political units, this attempt to re‐establish Somalia is based on the usual ‘top‐down’ approach, rather than on spontaneous local negotiations amongst ‘stakeholders’ on the ground, such as those on which Somaliland and Puntland are founded. With contingents of foreign ‘experts’, the whole process seeks to reinstate a familiar Eurocentric state model, unadapted to Somali conditions.

Differences that Matter: the Struggle of the Marginalised in Somalia

AbstractSomalia has been without a government for the past thirteen years. After the ousting of Siyaad Barre in 1991 observers were left with the question why a promising, even democratic, society sharing the same ethnicity, one religion, a common language and a predominantly pastoral culture was overtaken by a devastating civil war. Analysts stressed the significance of kinship and clan politics in the maintenance of sustained conflict. They argued that Somalia's state collapse must be placed in a historical context taking into consideration the cultural heritage of Somali society and the legacy of the colonial past. The purpose of the article is twofold: first, it seeks to explore an alternative explanation for the breakdown of Barre's dictatorial regime; and second, to analyse the social consequences of political and economic exclusion that followed the state collapse. The paper argues that Somalia's state failure can be explained by the unjust distribution of new sources of wealth in postcolonial Somalia. This modernisation process was accompanied by violent clashes and continued insecurity. The breakdown of the former regime did not create a representative government. Instead, faction leaders fought for political supremacy at the cost of the lives of thousands of civilians. In the absence of a functioning government that could guarantee security and protection, clan loyalties gained importance. Clan affiliation became a condition of being spared from violence. Unjust distribution of pockets of wealth, such as the high‐potential agricultural land in the riverine areas in southern Somalia, led to localised clashes. It will be argued that horizontal inequalities, or inequalities between groups, are based on both material and imagined differences. Somali faction leaders use these differences instrumentally, to maintain and to exercise power. Irrespective of the existence of invisible and physical markers, it is important to understand what existing social boundaries mean to their participants. A localised clan conflict in Lower Shabelle between the Jido and the Jareer clan families illustrates the consequences of social and economic exclusion. Groups who felt excluded from economic and political life, such as the Jareer, took up arms. Violence became a means of being heard and taken seriously in the current Somali peace talks in Kenya.