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»U Codee Mudane (Sadik Warfa) 2-Da Bisha Novenber Si Uu Danaha Iyo Horumarinta Bulshada Soomaaliyeed Wax Uga Qabto. 06 Aug 2010 |
  (TL) Mudane (Sadik Warfa) oo ka mid ah aqoonyahanka Soomaaliyeed ee ku nool magaalada [Minnesota] ayaa wuxuu u tartamayaa in uu ka mid noqdo xubnaha sharci dejinta ee magaalada [Minnesota]. isaga oo raba in uu matalo degmada loo yaqaan (61A District). Mudane (Sadik Warfa) ayaa wuxuu magiciisa ku tartamayaa xisbiga aan dhana u xaglin ee madaxa banaan oo magiciisa marka la soo gaabsho loo yaqaan (IP). wuxuuna ka mid yahay 16 xubnood oo xisbiga aan dhanna raacsanayn uu ugu talo galay in ay 16 dagmo oo dagmooyinka magaalada ah ay maamulkooda kula wareegaan. Soomaalida dibed jooga ah waayahaan danbe waxaa aad ugu soo batay tirada dadka isu sharaxaya ka mid ahaanshaha maamulada degaamada ay degan yihiin, marar dhif ahna waxaaba dhacda in ay tartanka ku guuleystaan. balse xataa hadii ay guuleystaan oo ay Soomaalidu magaalooyinka ay degan yihiin golaha magaalada ee sharci dejinta ay ku biiraan, waxqabad koodu aad buu u yaryahay tixgelina ma'ay helaan.
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»Shirweynihii Qaranka Oo Uu Dib U Dhac Ku Yimid Iyo Shirkada (Somgulf Group) Oo Loo Xilsaaray Hawlaha Guud Ee Tanadland 29 Jul 2010 |
  (TL) Ururka qorsheynta qaranku wuxuu mudo haatan laga joogo 2 bilood uu heshiis la galay shirkada (Somgulf Group) faraceeda dhismaha (Somgulf Property Development), oo ah shirkada dhismaha ee ugu baaxada weyn shirkadaha dhismaha ee laga leeyahay bariga Africa. waxaana loo xilsaaray maamulka iyo dhismaha mashaariicda qaranka. mashaariic daasna waxaa ugu horayn doona 2 heshiis oo horu dhac ah wax ku oolna ah. (1) heshiiska hore wuxuu yahay in ay magaalo madaxda gobolka Xariir ee (Galdogob) shirkadu maalgelin ku samayso, ayna magaalada ka aas-aasaan shirkad kireysata ama leh diyaaradaha xamuulka qaada iyo garoon diyaaradeed.
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»Dhismaha Iyo Tababarka Ciidamada Qalabka Sida Ee Qaranka Tanadland. 15 Jul 2010 |
 (TL) Indhowaale gudiga siyaasada ee (U.M.T) oo loo xilsaaray hawlaha baraarujinta, isku dubaridka, mideynta iyo jiheynta umada karaamaysan ee Tanadland. Waxaana u qabsoomay shirar iyo kulamo isdabajoog ah oo ka dhacay meelo badan oo dalka gudihiisa iyo dibediisa ka mid ah. sida qorshaha ugu jirta ururka mideynta umada soojireenka ah ee Tanadland, waxaa ay shirar kaas gogol xaarka ahi ay socon doonaan ilamaa iyo inta laga gaarayo mudada uu furmi doono shirweynaha Gaalkacyo. bulshada umada taariikhiga ah ee Tanadland waxay fursad u heleen in ay taladooda ku biiriyaan mashruuca qorsheynta qaranka. waxaana in door ah laga soo ururiyey aaraa'dooda ku saabsan hanaanka dowladnimo ee ay aaminsan yiihiin in uu umada Tanadland dan u yahay.
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»Qorshaha Maamul Goboleedka (Somali Central State) EE Beel-Weynta (Mareexaan) Oo Meel Fiican Maraya. 16 Jun 2010 |
  UK-(GMN) Kulankii ugu horeeyay oo dhaqaale loogu uruurinayo Dawlad gobaleedka bartamaha soomaaliya ayaa maalintii axadda 13 bishaan juun 2010ka ka dhacay magaalada birmingham.Kulankaan oo ahaa mid si heer sare ah loo soo qaban-qaabiyay ayaa waxaa soo abaabulay oo gogasha fidiyay SADE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (SECO) oo ah urur ay ku midaysan yihiin Jaaliyadda Qurba joogta ah ee beesha sade ee Birmingham, Kaasoo magaalada Birmingham looga dhawaaqay bishii maajo ee ina dhaaftey. Waxaana ugu horeyntii halkaas ka hadlay oo shirka furay guddoomiyaha ururka SECO Cali jaamac Xuseen ( Cali dheere).
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»Ururka Mideynta Tanadland Ee Lagu Dhawaaqay Iyo Himilada Laga Leeyahay 17 Apr 2010 |
  (TL) Dadka reer Tanadland oo aan ka warqabin hadii layiraahdo warshadaha iyo shirkadaha ugu waaweyn ee ku yaala magaalada (Boosaaso) waxaa leh ganacsatada reer Tanadland. waxaa laga yaabaa inay dadka qaarkiis u qaadan waayaan. dhanka warshadaha tusaale ahaan, ganacsatada reer Tanadland waxay leeyihiin labada warshaddood ee cabitaanka sameeya ee magaalada [Boosaaso] middood. (2) labada warshadood ee saabuunta dharka lagu dhaqo sameeya mid kamid ah. (3) warshada ugu weyn warshadaha ku yaala magaalada [Boosaaso] iyo goboladii horay loo oran jirey Mudug, Nugaal iyo Bari oo dhan. oo ay leeyihiin niman walaalo ah oo ah lafta ugu shirkadaha badan Beelweynta Reer (Xirsi Muumin). warshaddaasina waa warshada [Hargaha & Saamaha].
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»Qaranka Tanadland Hadaysan Maantay Maamul Goboleed Samaysan Dhaxal kii Boqor (Maxamed Daarood) Goormay ku Tanaadayaan?,"Guubaabo Qaran". 08 Jan 2010 |
  (1) Dr/Ugaas Axmed (2)Ugaas Maxamed (3)Ugaas Cali (4)Qoraa/Imaam Geesood (5)Imaam Xaaji Ciise (6)Imaam Xaaji Cali (7)Imaam Xaaji Xuseen (8)Qoraa /Hindisaa/ Imaam: Maxamed Muumin (9)Macalin/Ugaas Muumin Aadan (10)Ugaas Cismaan (11)Ugaas Yuusuf (12)Ugaas Muuse "Cadaawe" (13)[Ugaas/ Hindisaa: Cali "Khayre"](14)Ugaas Maxamed (15)Ugaas C/raxmaan (16)Ugaas Cabdulaahi (17)Ugaas Ismaaciil (18)Ugaas Aadan"Xoosh" (19)Ugaas Maxamed (20) Ugaas Sakad (21)Ugaas Waaqroone, (22)Ugaas Udnenfale (23)Boqor- Suleymaan "Abaarmoog" (24)Boqor- Korshe (25)Boqor- Muuse "Wacle" (26)Boqor- Asaannabi (27) Xeeldheere/Boqor: Shucayb "Leelkase" (28) Hindisaa/Boqor: Diiftire] (29) Boqor- Haaruun (30) Boqor-Dirir (31)[Hindisaa/Boqor: Cadnaan Hoobaanle"] (32)Boqor- Sajiis (33)Boqor- Masdaan (34)Taariikhyahan/Boqor: Maxamed "Tanade" (35) Shiikh/Xeeldheere: Daarood (36)Ismaaciil (37) Al Jabarti (38)Ibraahim ----119) Nebi- Nuux (120) Lamik (121) Mutwashlak (122) Hindisaa/Nebi- Idiris (123) Yarid (124) Mashlalil (125) Caynan (126) Anusha (127) Xeeldheere/Caaqil: Masdaan"Sed" (128) Nebi- Aadan.
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»Taliyaha Abaanduulka Ciidamada Tanadland Oo Mooryaanta Gaalo Raaca Ah Ee Dhabayacada Siiyey Digniin 24 Saac Ah. 29 Dec 2009 |
  (TL) Beelaha Tanadland ay ka koobantahay ee reer (Amiir Suhure) iyo reer (Boqor Masdaan Boqor Maxamed) oo maalmahaan ku shirsanaa dhamaan degaanada iyo Gobolada Tanadland, sida gobolka (Xariir), (Hoobaanle) iyo Gobolka (Koonfur Bari) ee ay magaalo madaxdiisu tahay (Bandarbayla). Waxaana shirar kaas ka soo baxay qaraar ah in hadii aysan mooryaanta beesha kibirtey, ee Dhabayaco aysan mudo 24 saac gudahood ah ku soo deyn weriye (Maxamed yasin Isixaaq), in ay beeshu qaadayso talaabo milateri oo baaxad leh. Weriye (Mohamed Yasin isixaaq) oo ah wakiilka magaalada Gaalkacyo u jooga Idaacada ay umada Soomaaliyeed sida weyn u qadariyaan ee VOA-da. ayaa waxaa qafaashay mooryaanta gaalo raaca ah ee Dhebayacada. Waxaana dad badan oo reer Tanadland ah layaab iyo fajiciso ku noqotay, sida nimankii loo han weynaa ee (Muuse Cali) har cad wiilkoodii Gaalkacyo looga kaxaystay iyagoo soo taagan.
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»Tacsi Kusocota Ciidamada QaLabka Sida Ee Tanadland Iyo Caa'ilada Mujaahid (Col.Cabdi Caaqil Cadeysey Caaqil Dhagahoor) 10 Feb 2009 |
 (TL) Walaalayaal waxaa maalinkii Jamcaha ahaa ee doraad ka horeysey magaalada Gaalkacyo lagudiley nin magac iyo maamuus kudhex leh reer Tanadland iyo Soomaalida inteeda kaleba.Sifaha lagu diley iyo sida loogu soogabadayna waxay shabahdaa sidii ay daalimiintu asxaabtii nebiga iyo ehelu qayrka udagi jireen, maalin jamcaa isagoo alle dertiis salaadii jamcaha masaajid ugu socda ayey dhexda ugaleen. Col. Cabdi oo ku magacdheeraa (Cabdi Kacaan) wuxuu kamid ahaa saraakiishii ciidanka nabad sugida ee caanka ahaa wakhtigii uu dalka ka arimin jirey Kacaankii barakaysnaa.
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»Dr.Maxamad Hussein "Ilkadahab"oo isu Soo Sharaxay Tartanka Madaxwenanimada Soomaaliya 28 Jan 2009 |
  (TL) [Sawirka Prof.Ilkadahab iyo Hoggaamiye Qadaafi] [Sawirka kaleetana waa Prof.Ilkodahab iyo priminsterkii hore ee Talyaaniga Mr: Prodi] Dr., Maxamad Hussein Mohamed wuxuu ka mid yahay takhaatiirta tirade yar oo dunida loo aqoonsaday in ay cabqari ku yihiin daaweeynta iyo cillad bixinta cudurrada indhaha bini aadanka ku dhaca. Dr. Ilkadahab oo ku soo qaatay dalalka Ruushka, Bulgaariya iyo Talyaaniga cilmiga diktornimada wuxuuna ku takhasusay daaweeynta iyo qalliinka indhaha wuxuuna aqoonta sare ee PHD-da loo yaqaan ka qaatay Jaamicadda Bulgaria, wuxuuna Dr. Ilkadahab uu imminka uu ku noolyahay kuna leeyahay cisbitaal gaar ah oo qaabilsan qalliinka iyo daaweeynta indhaha.
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»Yay Tahay Beesha Rabta In Magaalada Gaalkacyo Karbaash Looga Saaro Oo Xoogaagana Laga Daadsado?. 17 Sep 2008 |
 (TL) Intii ayaamahakan ahaydba waxaa kasocdey magaalada Gaalkacyo amuur wax allaale iyo wax lagu sheego aan la aqoon oo is xag-xagasho baas ah. arintaan ayaa waxay ka bilaabatay iskuday dhicisoobey oo ay samaysay beesha Sacad ayna rabtay inay xaqeeda ku soo dhacsato. sababtuna waxay tahay beesha Sacad sidii magaalada Gaalkacyo looga saarayba mudo dheer bay gaalkacyo marti ku ahaayeen, Xamarna isbaaro iyo xoriyad bay ku haysteen. laakiin maantay nimankii magaalada la deganaa ee ay xulafaysteen ayaa xamarna karbaash uga soo saaray. xaafadii [baraxley] ahayd bayna isugu yimaadeen oo ay ku wada dulmanyihiin.
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»Prof. Cismaan Salaad Xirsi Oo Laga Waraystay Badroolka Soomaaliya Ku Jira 15 Aug 2008 |
  LONDON, ONTARIO- Waxaa bahda Somalitalk.com u suurta gashay in aan waraysi layeelano Dr. Cismaan Salaad Xirsi oo kamida aqoonyahannada Soomaaliyeed ee cilmiga Joolojiga. Waraysigan waxa uu ka dhacay Hotel Hilton oo kuyaal magaalada London, Ontario, halkaas oo Dr. Osman uu kaga qaybgalay shir looga hadlay joolojiga, waxaana laqabtay shirkaas September 24-27, 2000. Somalitalk: Marka ugu horreysa Dr. Osman warbixin kooban naga sii sida uu mu'tamarkii (shirkii joolojiga) u dhacay iyo sida ay dadkii ka soo qaybgalay kaaga guddoomeen farriintii ku saabsanayd batroolka Soomaaliya?. Dr. Osman: Shirkan American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Eastern Section, waa shir sannadkiiba mar la qabto oo ay isugu yimaadan dad joolojistayaal ah oo ka kala socda waqooyiga America. Shirkan oo ah mid qaab goboleed ah ayaa aniga oo ka shaqeeya Quebec iyo Ontario la igu casumey in aan ka soo qeyb galo,
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»Xulka Qaranka Soomaaliyeed Oo Si Haybad Iyo Sharaf Leh Uga Qayb-Qaatay Xaflada Furitaanka Cayaaraha Olombikada 10 Aug 2008 |
  [His Excellence: (Duran Axmed faarax) oo calanka u sida Xulka Qaranka] (TL) Maalinkii shalay ahaa waxaa caasimada wadanka shiinaha ee bekin (beijing) lagu dhigay xafladii furitaanka cayaaraha Olombiga aduunka. xafladaasna waxaa ay ka dhacday garoonka bilicda san ee lagaba yaabo in uu yahay kan aduunyada ugugu qurxoon, looguna magac daray buulka shimbiraha. waxaana olombiga inooga qayb qaadanaya 10 qofood oo u badan sida aad idinba sawirka kore ka garan kartaan madaxda ururka olombikada soomaaliyeed. taas oo daliil u noqonaysa waxa laga filan karo xulka qaranka ee cayaaraha olombikada inooga qayb qaadanaya.
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» The Poetry And The Times of (Hawa Jibril) BY: Faduma Ahmed Alim, Editor and Translator 24 Jul 2008 |
 (TL) Hawa was born over 80 years ago in a small village in the Mudug Region of Somalia. Hawa doesn't know precisely her date of birth; however, she recalls that she was born in the year of the Sparkling Rains. This is no wonder as the traditional Somali pastoralists record orally the date of their childrens birth based upon the events surrounding their birth, such as a decimating clan war; a devastating drought and famine; great and bountiful rains; or other major calamities that befall their country, such as foreign invasion and colonial penetration.
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»Wardheere: Soomaalida London waxaan ugu baaqayaa in aanay u kala harin taageeridda Murashaxa Mudane Zakariye X. Maxamuud ee London Assembly (Endorsement) 14 Apr 2008 |
  (TL) Dhawaaqa farxadda leh iyo akhbaarta fiican ee London ka soo yeertay in la taageero ayay mudan tahay. Sida aan la soconno maadaama ay Soomaali badan u soo haajirtay qurbaha Sooyaalka taariikhda Soomaalida saamayn weyn ayay ku yeelan doonaan. Waagii hore waa yarayd Soomaalida qurbaha u haajirta laakiin hadda xaaladda waa ka duwan tahay. Haddaba Soomaalida qurbaha u soo haajirtay waxaa ay la kulmayaan guulo iyo khasaarooyin ilayn waa sidii adduunka lagu yaqaanay wararkoodana waxaa uu isugu jiri doonaa wanaag iyo xumaan (positive or negative). wararka iga soo gaaraya London ayaa sheegaya in siyaasiyiin badan oo British ah ay bilaabeen inay la soo xiriiraan murashaxa xiisaha ama soo jiidashada badan ee Zakariya Haaji Maxamuud ayagoo raadinaya codka Soomaalida isla markaana ku baraarugay awooda cod bixinta Soomaalida London - taasina waa mihiim.
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»CONFERENCE PROGRAM AGENDA, SATURDAY MARCH 1, 2008 19 Feb 2008 |
  (TL) 11:00AM-12:30PM Moderator: Ahmed Hamud, Panelists: Ambassador Abdikarim Laqanyo. Ali Fatah, Dr. Hodan Said Isse, Omar Ali Hashi, intern at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International trade, Canada. Naima Haile, Dr. Ali Bahar Mohamud Abdi, Moving Somalia Forward: Rethinking the future Peace and Reconciliation Disarmament, demobilization and Reintegration of youth and militia. Transparent governance structure and human rights. Peace and Reconciliation: The Role of Youth and Woman. Moderator: Abdurahman Hosh Jibril. Panelists:Dr. Abdiweli M. Ali, Awad Ashara, MP TFG Parliament Dr. Ali Said Faqi, Ismail Gaildoon Abdihakim Faqi. The Transitional Federal Institutions: Pitfalls, Challenges and opportunities: A SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis.
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»Interview With FreeThinker Banaadiri Whose Aim Is to Change the Name "Somalia". 02 Feb 2008 |
  (TL) "The Banaadiri coast", as name for coastal northeast Africa, was used well into the 20th century, and as an informal designation for southern Somalia remains in use today. So sophisticated was the Banaadiri urban culture and the extraordinary literate background of these early settlers along the coast of the Indian Ocean, that they were described by foreign visitors as "people bound together by ties of citizenship and not by tribal relationships". The Banaadiris are multiethnic people from Horn of Africa. They are living along the south coast of that geographic area which Italians in 1908 named "Somalia". Nuredin Hagi Scikei was born in Mogadishu as descendant of AlFaqi, known also as the Reer Faqi of Qahtan religious dynasty, and appointed by the Banaadiri as administrators of justice in the territory from the Middle Ages until the first years of the Italian occupation. Nuredin is a graduate in civil engineering from Bologna University in Italy,
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BETWEEN THE MUSHUNGULI AND THE SOMALI MAYFLAWER, BY: PROF. ALI ALAMIN MAZRUI.
16 Feb 2007 |
The Somali Bantu in the USA -Profe Ousseina Alidou and Her husband Professor Alamin Mazrui are the proud parents of baby Selma, born Sunday 17t January 11, 2007.
[Presented at a Forum of Governmental and Non-Governmental Agencies of Columbus, Ohio (USA), organized by the Office of Refugee Services, in preparation for the re-settlement of hundreds of the so-called Somali Bantu in the city].
I would like to begin with a confession. When I was first contacted by the Office of Refugee Services to come and address this distinguished audience on the notion of “Bantuness” with specific regard to an ethnic group from Somalia known as the Somali Bantu, I was a bit flabbergasted – And this for two reasons:
First, like many Africans, I had been under the illusion that Somalia is a prime example of a mono-ethnic nation in Africa, never once entertaining the possibility that within that space there could actually exist other ethnic entities. So, while it is still true that Somalia is predominantly homogenous in its ethnic composition, the revelation about the Somali Bantu demonstrated to me how successful successive Somalia regimes and their ideologues had been in effacing this and other minorities within Somalia.
Secondly, I was astounded because as a linguist of the African condition, I had not been accustomed to thinking of Bantu as an ethnic designation at all. While the word Bantu (people) and its singular Muntu (person) exist in a number of Eastern, Central and Southern African languages, it was European colonizers who first applied the term (Bantu) to hundreds of ethnic groups speaking related (though not necessarily mutually intelligible) languages – much as we use the term Germanic to refer to speakers of related languages that include English, German, Dutch etc. The Bantu languages more widely known to Americans, of course, include Swahili in East Africa, Zulu in South Africa and perhaps Lingala in Central Africa.
Historically, Bantu speakers are said to have originated in what is today Eastern Nigeria and the adjoining areas of Cameroon. Some 4000 years ago, they began to migrate eastwards and southwards in a series of movements that came to be dubbed the “Bantu Dispersal.” In the process, they popularized their agricultural form of production and a sedentary mode of living. As significantly, many groups of speakers of non-Bantu languages came to be assimilated, linguistically and culturally, acquiring in the process the identity of the respective Bantu-speaking groups. From the linguistic point of view, Bantuness is an expansive multi-ethnic umbrella that covers a wide range of groups – from West to East Africa, from Central to South Africa, – groups that need not share any genetic affiliation..
In this respect, Bantuness contrasts sharply with Somaliness. Somaliness is an ethnic-specific identity. It is to belong to one large ethnic group, sharing a belief in a common ancestry traced to a mythical founder-figure, Samaale, and a common language – albeit with several regional varieties, just as English has several different dialects. Linguistically, the Somali are not Bantu. Rather, with speakers of several languages of the Horn of Africa (like Oromo, Bilin, Saho, Afar and Beja), they belong to what is called the Cushitic family (of languages). Comparatively speaking, then, Somali is a specific signification, while Bantu has a more generic representation.
The question that confronts us, then, is how “Bantu” as a multi-ethnic designation came to acquire a mono-ethnic meaning in the context of the troubled region of Somalia. Here, a comparison with African America is indeed in order. We will remember that enslaved Africans transported to the Americas came from many ethnic groups, some of which did not even know of each other’s existence and whose languages were often so different that they could not communicate with each other. It was the gradual realization that their bondage and their humiliation were pegged to their skin color and their African origin that ultimately fostered a collective consciousness of their Africanity. So, while those in the Mother-Continent have continued to regard the term “Africa” as a conglomeration of hundreds of ethnic groups, the specificity of the Black experience in the racial context of America has accorded the term a mono-ethnic meaning.
Similarly, the Bantu of Somalia may have come from a variety of Bantu-speaking groups in East and Southern Africa. We know, of course, that some of them are indigenous to Somalia, having arrived there as part of the larger wave of the Bantu Dispersal I alluded to earlier. For others, however, their presence in the space of Somalia was a consequence of their enslavement. Together, these divergent entities of Bantu-speaking Somalians came to share a common destiny as victims of domination and marginalization over the years. And, increasingly, this common fate came to be seen as a direct product of their over-arching Bantuness. Within the context of Somalia, then, this growing Bantu consciousness eventually crystallized into an independent ethnic reference.
We know, of course, that with Black people in the USA, the source-identity (African) became the qualifier/adjective, while the recipient-identity, American, became the noun. So we talk of African Americans rather than American Africans. The case of the Somali Bantu, on the other hand, is exactly the reverse. Their source-identity, Bantu, is the noun that is qualified by their recipient-identity, Somali. How, then, do we account for this difference – in the word order -- between African Americans and the Somali Bantu?
With African Americans, we can suggest that the people have lost enough (though by no means all) of their African cultural heritage and acquired enough of the heritage of their new location to increasingly see themselves as Americans of African origin. The vast distance between Africa and the Americas naturally contributed a great deal to this weakening of the linguistic and cultural umbilical chord between Africa and its children in the Diaspora.
In the case of the Somali Bantu, on the other hand, the Bantu cultural heritage has continued to endure in significant measure, and the people themselves have experienced far less (than African Americans) by way of cultural assimilation into the new cultural milieu. The cultural (and subsequently identitarian) primacy of their Bantuness, then, has not been sufficiently eroded by the hegemonic force of the dominant culture.
The failure of the Somali Bantu to acquire a Somali ethnic identity is, in a sense, a curious fact given the history of enslavement in the lands of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Most of the East and South Africans who were captured, enslaved and transported to countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia were predominantly from Bantu-speaking backgrounds. Until today we know that there are large enclaves of people of Bantu descent in the Dekan in India or in Dhofar in the Gulf state of Oman. Yet, we do not hear of Indian Bantu/Bantu Indians or Omani Bantu/Bantu Omanis. Why? This is partly because the paradigms of ethnicity in parts of India and the Middle East, as in much of Africa, allow for the acquisition of local ethnic identities by the sheer force of cultural and linguistic assimilation. As a result, descendants of enslaved Africans in Oman, for example, have virtually lost their African consciousness because, as time passed they acquired an Arab identity once Arabic became their native language. In Africa too, there are many Africans of one ethnic origin or another – some surely descendents of slaves -- who have become Hausa or Baganda, for instance, simply because the Hausa language and the Luganda language, respectively, have become their mother tongues.
In the same vein, after centuries in Somalia, one would have expected the descendants of enslaved Bantu and other Bantu communities in that country to have become, by now, Somali in ethnic identification. But, this did not, in fact, take place! It did not happen because, as indicated earlier, the process of their lingo-cultural assimilation was incomplete. But even if it were complete, the Bantu would still not be Somali for reasons that have to do with the peculiarities of Somali identity itself.
Unlike many other African societies that are defined by the primacy of culture, genealogy constitutes the very heart and fabric of the Somali social system. According to David Laitin and Said Samatar, demonstration of genealogical links to the major clan-families of the Somali – the four pastoral ones (Dir, Darood, Isaaq and Hawiye) and the two agricultural ones (Digil and Rahanwayn) -- is absolutely essential to the act of belonging to Somali society. This fact partially explains “the suspiciousness and even paranoia (remarked on by numerous foreign observers) that color the Somalis’ relations with outsiders and strangers, mainly because the latter are beyond the scope of [Somali] genealogical identification. [And the genealogical] system guards itself against alien penetration and outside influences by a defensive bulwark of kinship solidarity, at best, and at worst by clannish exclusiveness.”[1]
Under these circumstances, there was little chance of the Bantu of Somalia getting admitted to a Somali identity even if they desired to be. Indeed Laitin and Samatar allude to numerous urban families of Arab and Persian ancestry in Somalia cities like Mogadishu, Merka and Baraawe, and Bantu communities in the south of the country who, lacking genealogical links with the major Somali clan-families have tried to construct fictitious ones in an attempt to place themselves within the system and, therefore, within the society, but all in vain. In time, this genealogical foundation of society also came to translate into silent political, social and economic policies of the state of Somalia itself, further consolidating both the marginalization and discrimination of people of Bantu origin in the country.
There is a sense, then, in which the fate of people of Bantu descent in Somalia is more akin to that of people of African descent in America than that of fellow Bantu descendents in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Unlike in the latter three cases where culture has been more fundamental as a criterion for belonging or not belonging, among the Somali (as in the USA) “genes” have had greater weight in determining the boundaries between the “self” and the “other,” between “we” and “them.” To be Anglo is to be born into it: No matter how culturally assimilated African Americans may be, they could not acquire an Anglo identity without being genetically white. Likewise, to be Somali is to be born into it: No matter how assimilated the Bantu of Somalia may be, they could not acquire a Somali identity without having blood ties with one or more clan-families of the Somali. Located outside the boundaries of the Somali social organism, therefore, it was natural that a Bantu consciousness would loom large in the minds of the Mushunguli (the self-designated name of the Somali Bantu).
I must point out here, however, that by drawing a distinction between these different paradigms of identity, I do not mean to suggest that one is somehow better than the other. Certainly, we know that the assimilation paradigm can sometimes be a denial of diversity. Indeed the absorptive capacity of Arab identity, for example, has led one poet of Southern Sudan to lament the “loss” of his own cousin who has acquired Arab identity by linguistic and cultural assimilation. He says:
My cousin Mohamed
Thinks he is very clever…
With pride,
He says he’s an African who speaks
Arabic language,
Because he’s no mother tongue
Among the Arabs,
My cousin becomes a militant Arab –
A black Arab
Who rejects the definition of race
By pigment of one’s skin.
He says,
If an African speaks Arabic language
He’s an Arab!
If an African is culturally Arabized
He’s an Arab.[2]
The poet sees this form of identity-conversion through lingo-cultural assimilation as a negation of the nationalist spirit that has fuelled the liberation struggle of the Southern Sudanese.
Nor do I mean to suggest, by erecting these paradigms, that assimilation into the identity of the “other” necessarily obliterates all forms of discrimination. There are many people of Black African ancestry who, having acquired Arab identity, continue to be victims of “colorism,” for example.
So, my objective here has not been to establish a hierarchy of culpability of one paradigm of identity over another. Rather, it has been to describe the conditions that have inspired the Mushunguli to continue imagining themselves as Bantu rather than simply as Somali over the centuries of established residence in Somaliland.
This brings me to my two-point conclusion. First, to the extent that Somali is a specific ethnic designation of sorts, I find the term Somali Bantu to be quite a misnomer. We do not have, in this case, a Bantu people of Somali ethnic ancestry. What we do have rather is a Bantu people originating from the space referred to as Somalia. I humbly submit, therefore, that they should be called, more appropriately, Somalia Bantu.
Secondly, the fate of the Somalia Bantu underscores the problem of the unitary state that has bedeviled much of the rest of Africa, that quest for homogeneity as a precursor to state-national unity. This thinking, as we all know, has unfortunately led to much bloodshed in various parts of the continent. But, in this new space of America that is our exile, can we discover each other anew, and begin to appreciate the possibilities of a unity within our diversity? Can we learn to celebrate the pluralism that is our common heritage as Africans, as Black people, without seeking to erase each other from the rich, multicultural tapestry that binds us? Only time will tell. In the meantime, as the blood of innocent victims meanders in the African river of time, let us pray that it be the blood of the maternity ward signaling the painful birth of a new Africa. Amen.
January 11, 2007.
[1] David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar. Somalia: Nation in Search of a State. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1987: 31.
[2] S. Anai Kelueljang, “My Cousin Mohamed.” In Chinweizu, Voices from Twentieth Century Africa: Griots and Towncriers. London: Fabian and Fabian, 1988: 35.
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Last modified: January 11, 2007.
Source: By The Tanadland Global Monitoring
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(TL) Iyadoo ay jirto in gebi ahaanba wadanka soomaaliya oo dhan ay abaar dad iyo duunyoba waxyeelaysay ay ku habsatey, ayaa maalintii shalay ahayd waxaa dibad-bax roobdoon ah isugu soo baxay ardayda iskoolada kala duwan ee magaalada Gaalkacyo qaar kamid ah, jiilaalka xun ee dabo- dheeraaday iyo biyo la'aanta ayaa dadka waxaa uga daran iyagoo aan haysan wax ay wax ku kala gataan, waxaana gebi ahaanba joogsadey haatan isticmaalka xaashiyo lacag ku sheeg ah oo si sahlan footokoobiga loogu sameeyo.