On behalf of the Somali Bantu / Jareer people in Somalia, I would like to take this golden opportunity to congratulate you and to express my gratitude to the honorable College of Holy Cross for hosting this historic event of the 5^th Congress for Somali Studies. I would like to convey a special thanks to all the protagonists for their relentless effort, and to every staff member of the Holy Cross for their genuine support to the participants of this Congress.

The significance and magnitude of this paper is intended to emphasis conspicuously and to elaborate in detail the perpetual and persistent atrocities committed against Bantu/Jarer people in Somalia. I appeal to every civilized person .to join me in the struggle to end the long-standing and on-going racism and discrimination which have caused untold sufferings to Bantu/Jarer people since Somalia was founded. This paper will also unveil some crucial information that has always been kept obscure and ambiguous to the outside world. The formidable history of Somali Bantu / Jarer people has been deliberately distorted and made insignificant by every Somali autarchy, as well as callous Somali scholars, who have deliberately contributed to misleading foreign writers.

Therefore, I feel obliged to debunk all the mythic history against Bantu/Jarer, and to uncover the untold apartheid imposed on Bantu/Jarer people in Somalia.

Bantu/Jarer tribes are the natives and landlords of what was previously known as the Shungwaya-land and contemporarily known as the Inter-riverine of Giuba and Shabelli in Somalia.

"Bantu people are a naturally sedentary tribe living on the banks of both the Giuba and Shabelli rivers and are predominantly an agricultural community, less anxious for nomadic life. These are the real authentic Africans of Bantu origin and autochthons of Inter-riverine areas. Their physical features are of a typical African, such as: flat nose, thick hair, dark skin, strong, healthy, and a muscular body that makes it obvious the discrepancy between the Bantu/Jarer and other Somalis." 1

Bantu people have contributed astronomically to the struggle for Somali independence, like any other Somali tribe, and we hoped for a positive outcome after independence, since ABDULKADIR SHECK SAKAWADIN was one of the founders of the freedom fighting party S. Y .C. (Somali Youth Club), which later became the S.Y.L. (Somali Youth League). Mr.Sakawdkin was of Bantu origin, but he and his family never received substantial respect and recognition as one of the pioneers of Somali independence and as a national hero. His rejection was related to his race. After many years of violence, fighting, and guerrilla war against the Italian fascists, southern Somalia finally obtained its independence from Italy on July 1, 1960. It was the dream of every Somali, as well as the international community, to see Somalia stand up on its own feet and function as a healthy nation.

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1 Interview with Halima Essow, an elderly Bantu woman in Aieoi. Tulv. 1993.

We (Somalis) expected our independence would prove to the rest of the world that Somalia is prosperous, with wise and versatile leaders, capable of contributing to the development, progress, welfare and solidarity of our nation.

A great upheaval occurred after independence and everything turned contrary to our expectations. New methods of tribalism and hooliganism have emerged owing to the greed for power of other tribes.2

We have been and still are being discriminated in Somalia publicly and privately. We have been systematically alienated by every Somali regime on academics, politics and economics, and often exploited as the cheapest labor force. We have been denied our Somali identities and human respect; we have been prejudged and categorized as ADOON (SLA VE) and low class humans who lacks the capability of normal thinking and reasoning, which undermines our general competence and dignity.

The Bantu have suffered right from the beginning. We have been suppressed and oppressed, robbed, raped, and killed. We have been deprived of our civil rights as Somali citizens, from independence by every Somali regime until the present. We have been stigmatized and undermined as inferior to other Somalis, yet we have never been given any eligibility for opportunities in the Somali society.

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2 Interview with Mahdi Mohamed Isse, a major in the Somali army and a professor in the Military Academy in Mogadishu, July, 1993.

However, those of us from Bantu/Jarer tribes who tried to demand our rights, equal distribution of opportunities in the system, and balanced power among tribes, have been preposterously humiliated by every Somali authority. My experience in Somalia has been, we (Jarer) did not need to commit a crime of any kind, and because, being a Jarer itself is a crime.

Bantu people and their land has become a core target of many clans in Somalia, who have deliberately imposed blockages and obstacles on my people's economic advances in agriculture, small business, decent employment, and education. We, the Bantu, are still being oppressed in every aspect of our lives, because the nefarious Somali system exists to exploit us, forcing us to live as a submissive clan, not entitled to live comfortably, while many other tribes lurked behind lucrative businesses and prominent positions.

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3 Interview with Mohamed A. Eenow, a Somali journalist in Nairobi, July, 1993.

As mentioned earlier in this paper, a massive number of Bantu people depend on agricultural activities along the banks of the Giuba and Shabelli rivers in Somalia. Although agriculture has been the back-bone of Somalia's economic growth, my people have been deliberately denied by Somali authorities any allocation of proper agricultural tools and equipment, such as tractors, trucks and irrigation machinery. If Bantus were given proper tools and farming equipment they would establish themselves economically within the Somali economy. The Somali regime did not favor Bantu advancement, therefore the Bantu were denied systematic assistance. So, they were destined to depend on their hoes and manual farming, limiting the volume of their production capacity, whereas the other tribes, who did not have the skills and capability of farming, were given all the governmental assistance. The Bantu are unable to compete economically and feel very frustrated because of the w1fair subjugation.

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4 Interview with Ahmed Ali Ibrahim, an agricultural consultant, July, 1993.

The educational system for Bantu children in the Inter-riverine areas has been tactfully designed by Somali bureaucrats. Their intention is to maintain illiteracy in the Bantu communities, thereby restricting them access in the institutional administration. Before Siad Barre's regime, the Somali hegemony had set up the educational system in a way that did not favor the Inter-riverine communities, since all the secondary schools, as well as most intermediate schools, have been deliberately centralized in Mogadishu and other cities in southern Somalia. A Bantu farmer was forced to send his children to Mogadishu and support them there for the course of four to seven years to complete higher school education.

While other regions were provided with an easy access to the educational system because higher schools were built in their neighborhood within walking distance.

That is why, statistically 98% of Bantu young men and women are today stuck with primary school certificates only, because their parents could not afford to maintain them in the cities to complete their students.

In 1969, SIAD BARRE'S regime emerged, with another system full of ample tricks to disable the educational advancement of Bantu and the Inter-riverine people. He authorized the building of a few intermediate and secondary level schools in the Inter-riverine areas. But the catch to Siad Barre's system was making people believe that he was dedicated in assisting their children at any cost. To my surprise, research statistically proved that 99% of the students that were assisted by Siad Barre's system were from other tribes. Once again, we (Bantu) had been intentionally left unqualified to enroll in Somali Universities and polytechnics. The few Jarer who have been accepted into limited faculties at the Universities had to bribe authorities with large sums of money equivalent to their life savings.

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5 Interview with Mawlid Maani, Secretary-General of S.A.M.O. in Somalia, July, 1993.

As we all know politics, is a tough and dirty game that requires a lot of financial funding. The occupants of the Central region have control of Somalia’s treasury. They have become the sole dominating political power. The ruling tribe has totally monopolized Somalia's political policies. The government pledged free financing within their party /tribe to ensure re-election, at Somali tax-payer's expense. Within the Bantu tribe there is little financial stability to support a party to represent the Bantu people.

Another political disaster and impartiality aimed at the Bantu and the Inter-riverine people was the allocation of seats for members of parliament. Statistics from the United Nations show that the most populated regions in Somalia are Inter-riverine and Coastal areas, yet they were allocated the least number of seats in parliament. This misrepresentation is another important issue that needs to be addressed in the present reconciliation process in Somalia. Bantu/Jarer people in Somalia had been intentionally exempted access into the political arena, so that no one will represent the Bantu/Jarer, leaving us without a Political Voice.

After SIAD BARRE'S regime was removed from power, it was the hope of every Somali to establish a better government since every Somali tribe had contributed to ousting SIAD BARRE. To our despair, the result has not been freedom, but replacing one tribal dictatorship with yet another tribal dictatorship. Genocidal and slaying began on innocent people. That engulfed the whole of the Southern region of Somalia, claiming the lives of approximately 400,000 Somalis.

We did not fight to overthrow SIAD BARRE and his government of dictatorship and tribalism to have another tribe take his place and continue the injustices.

We all know that throughout the centuries Somalia has experienced complex historical migrations that involved people of different origin (Somalis, Arabs, Bantu, Oromo, etc).

This process has created interplay of different cultures that has shaped the Somali society and created a non-monolitical culture. These cultures had a mutual influence and somehow shared and assimilated values from one another.

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Nevertheless in the present Somalia, it has been established there are four main cultures and traditions, each one related to a particular socioeconomic orientation and ecological adaptation, and each one having equally contributed to enrich the present Somali culture. These cultures are: pastoral, agio-pastoral, agrarian, and a mercantile culture.

Unfortunately there is a tendency to reduce these cultures into one and define the whole Somalia as having only one culture, namely a pastoral culture. This misrepresentation neglects not only the rich culture and traditions of the riverine and coastal regions, but reduces the strengths of the Somali culture. The reason for this neglect stems from three main factors:

1. The Somali Academy of Science and Literature working on a given political directive has always promoted the notion of Somali cultural homogeneity, dismissing anything that may prove otherwise, such as diversity. Hence only the pastoral culture celebrated, and the rest rejected.

2. All research of southern Somalia was done by Italian scholars (E. Cerulli, Colucci, Grotanelli, etc.), whose publications are not widely read in the English-speaking world.

3. The development of the written Somali language, which is based on the northern dialect, has also led scholars to focus on the literary and poetic traditions of the north, leaving the riverine and coastal regions as a secondary field for the study of Somali literature.

Saving our existence, dignity and integrity is more important than the fictitious homogeneous misrepresentation of the previous constitution's mission statement. Our Freedom of Association does not include the imposition upon us of old guard misrepresentation to the Canadian public and members in general. We are aware those campaigning behind the scene against our commitment to amend this presently misleading mission statement. It's not a divine law that cannot be tempered with.

It is our duty to educate the misinformed that we are not members of the same ethnic, linguistic background. It is also our responsibility to correct past mistakes and be proud of our diversity. Accepting the status quo is a violation of the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "But the bottom line must be clear - our right to our own identity, integrity, ethnicity, is sacrosanct." "Inclusion of false homogeneity is not absolute." We are not going to accept genocide to our culture, identity, dignity, ethnicity, and languages.

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7 Interview Abdurahman Sheck Isse, a Somali scholar based in Toronto.

While it's difficult to conceive of any limitations on homogeneous ideas, the same cannot be said of homogenous impositions, notably when they impact on the fundamental rights and freedom of others. There i.s an impingement upon the Arab 18 centuries settlers, Bajunis, Barawans, Bantus (the indigenous farming community), Mashunghulis, Jarer (the polytechnic people). All the above mentioned belong to this Association and any individual who supports the objectives of the Association.

This is the history part of my paper but before I start my analysis, I would like to stipulate and separate between two different histories that have always been connected together by many Somali scholars with their intention to mislead the general public. The Wazigwa Bantu or Gosha people are the sedentary of Kisimayo and its surroundings,  therefore, although Wazigwas are Bantu originally, they have no historical connection with the other Bantu group from Shungwaya or Inter-riverine areas, because the Wazigwas or Gosha history in Somalia falls in a period of 450 years ago while the history of the Wa-Nyika from Shungwaya in Somalia their history falls over thousands of years ago. Wazigwas are originally the diaspora from Tanzania, while the Wa-Nyikas are natives and autochthons of inter-riverine in Somalia.

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8 Interview Shariff Aidaruse, President of the Somali-Canadian Association of Waterloo Region.

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9 Interviw Geografia Helvatica Vol. 8, p.p. 254, 255 – 1953

Even here, (Gosha) the Somalis came to fight them, and kept on coming to fight about ten times, (which means the Somalis with their intention to recaphlre the escaped slaves.) At last the war against Somalis came to an end, and the Wazigwas continued to live in Gosha-land because of their glory over the Somalis after a long lasted duel of at least ten battles. The Wazigwas had won the war under the leadership of Mkoma and killed the Somali leader Shekh Mohamed (but the Wazigwas used to call him Shekh Mambulo).

The Bantu from Shungwaya or Inter-riverine. The Bantu from Shungwaya are also called Wa-Nyika and they fragment into twelve tribes:

The black Bantu in Mogadishu.

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10 Vinigi L. Gro Ttanelli. Somalia, Scritti Vari edited in Editti, Vol. 1, p.p. 44, 256 Enrico Ceroili

Before and at the time of the arrival of the Digil and Rahanwein Confederacies in southern Somalia before the end of the fourteenth century, the Bur country was inhabited by a group of people known as the "Loo Medo," who were most probably Negroid and would appear to have shared the country with the Ma'adanle, a group of Hamitic Ajuran, and Galla elements - the Galla Wardai. Eile tradition says that at one time they themselves inhabited the whole of the country in the region of the three Burs Bur Hakaba, Bur Degis and Bur Eibe - but they were driven out of the first two areas by the Elai and Helleda.

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11 Azania Jamal of the British Institute in East Africa p.p. 127, 139 Vol. XVIII 1983 H. Neville

For all we know the future of the group (Bantu) as an entity ethnically and culturally distinct from the dominant Somali may well have been in grave danger from the moment the Italian administration withdrew from Somaliland per ultimo 1960.

According to origin we may distinguish two types of Somaliland Bantu. To the first belong those tribes (e.g. Liberti Gosha) who grew out of cores of fugitive slaves, either run-away or liberated, who had been transported this far north in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. Previously their home would have been Tanganyika, their affinity Yao, Zegua, etc. To the second group we may reckon those tribes that in all probability represent remnants of a pre-Somali population going back to the first millennium of the Christian era.13

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Chittick and J.E.G. Sutton

12 The African Frontier 1989, p.p. 218 Igor Kopytoff

13 Bulletin of the International Committee of Urgent Anthropological and Ethnical Research, p.p.

28,29 N. 3, 1960 with the help of U.N.E.S.G.O.

N.B. 1. Bantu, Jarer or Wa-Nyika are the same people but used in different names

2. Shungwaya and Inter-Riverine are the location on the banks of Giuba and Shabelli in Somalia

3. S.A.M.O. (Somali African Mukki Organization, the party struggling to secure rights for the Bantu/Jarer

people in Somalia.)

As I indicated clearly in the first part of my paper, we (Bantu) became the hardest hit by discrimination, racism, unfairness and lynches that were fortified by every Somali autarchy and its loyalists against Bantu people.

A new era of few selfish and greedy warlords emerged who are on a power journey and claimed the lives of about 400,000 helpless Somalis most of them women and children from inter-riverine areas. They will be remembered eternally by every genuine Somali community and one day justice will be served.

Although Somali scholars and authorities utterly denied our identities as the natives and landlords of inter-riverine in Somalia, yet time and history will tell as Prof. M.H. Mukhtar mentioned in the conclusion of his paper Islam in Somali history on page 33: Although Somalia claim they are homogeneous, the exact origin of their race remains mysterious.

I believe for a fact that there are many reasons why Somali scholars had to lie and connive about the culture and tradition of Somali Bantu as well as the inter-riverine tribes in general.

The following three reasons were essentially the main reasons:

1. To re-enforce the Somali myth of homogeneity and the myth to classify all Somalis as nomads.

2. To implement the customs, traditions, language, and culture of the dominant tribe upon every other Somali tribe.

3. To divert the world's attention and focus to their specific regions in order to obtain recognition and acceptance as the legitimate Somali historical regions.

As Cassanelli said in his book The Shapping of the Somali Society (page 28), efforts have been made to discourage scholars from studying other Somali themes. Valuable sources for the study of Somalia's past were ignored, among them, Arabic, Italian, French and German sources, as I pointed out in this study. The oral tradition of non-nomadic Somalia was deliberately denied, and their languages were not studied. Historical sites were set up

from where there were no signs of history. Religious heroes were made up where the practice of Islam has been insignificant. Truth is what is good for something, and in this instance, good for nomadism. The aim was under cover of nationalism, to safeguard the interests of particular clans and renounce others' aspirations.

Today the international communities and other scholars are now astonished with the fatal historical error narrated by the Somalians and some foreign writers regarding the Somali homogeneity. How is it possible to commit such atrocities and genocidal actions that engulfed the whole nation of Somalia if we are really homogeneous!

As far as slavery is concerned, it was justified by scholar Vinigi Grottaneilli of how the Waziguas were deceived by the Arabs and their immediate abscond after realizing that they were trapped as slaves. Therefore, I recommend the following as the solution for Somalia:

1. An immediate and thorough disarmament is indispensable, however it should not be implemented unilaterally on one group only. Instead, disarmament should engulf every arsenal of every callous warlord, otherwise the credibility and effort values of United

Nation's auxiliaries will be in vain.

2. The reconciliation process must be re-enforced although it is one of the most complicated and delicate segments of the whole peace process, because there are unhealed wounds of killing, rape, torture, robbery and destruction engineered by few ruthless warlords. Most of the ordeal in Somalia has been experienced by innocent people and harmless tribes who did not participate the atrocities of power struggle, therefore their hatred, grudge and mischief cannot be reconciled easily. War victims have lost faith, human dignity and self-esteem in any system, so inclusion of every tribe in the process of

reconciliation is pivotal.

3. A carefully designed approach to governance in Somalia is necessary, although it is not an easy task to accomplish, because almost every Somali is perplexed and ambiguous about the issue of governance. In my opinion, I suggest that every tribe must be included in the process to governance in order to obtain a balanced power. Therefore governance should start on the level of regional and provincial autonomy otherwise we will be doomed to another destruction and havoc in Somalia.

4. Somalia needs to build a unique kind of constitution that accommodates all important and relevant requirements of our lives. So, in the process of building a new constitution people of all ages from all locations and opposite sex must be included in the discussion in order to construct a comprehensive, consistent, concise, coherent, and convenient constitution.

The creation of this constitution may be composed of a combination of three elements:

1. The Islamic Religion

2. The culture and tradition from different Somali communities

3. Some clauses from democratic system.

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"THE AFRICAN FRONTIER"  

Nassib Bunda is remembered as a courageous warrior and military leader. Many stories speak of his success in defending his followers against their former Somali masters. A string of early successes against Ogadeen and Biimaal raiding parties enhanced his reputation as both protector and magician; he was said to be able to summon the animals of the forest and river to his cause (Fieldnotes 1971, Rossetti 1900Age-classes do not seem to have been institutionalized in Goshaland, but all able-bodied males had togive military service and each village of the confederation had a military head responsible for its contingent of militiamen. With arms acquired from Zanzibari traders in the 188o’s, Nassib Bunda created a special force of musket bearers under his own command and it became the core of his fighting forces, supported by a second line of archers and spear bearers! (Zoli 1927:198). Firearms enabled Goshaland to take the offensive in the last few years of the century: on one occasion, Nassib Bunda directed an attack against a Somali zariba (nomadic thorn enclosure) in retaliation for a Somali raid on a friendly caravan trader (Robecchi.-Brichetti 1899:209).

    But it was not only military success that secured Nassib Bunda,s reputation. He was an acknowledged master of the mystical arts, combining Islamic and African practices In exercising his leadership. His reputed ability to command animals in defending Goshaland has already been -mentioned. Rather less popular was his supposed power over the crocodiles of the Juba, which he used against Gosha rivals; and he threatened family heads with gory death if they refused to give him their daughters in marriage." Given the unfamiliar surroundings with Its un known spirits, it is not surprising that the settlers should emphasize their leader’s supernatural powers. Religious specialists often play an important role in frontier situations, as in the already noted instance of the Zigua mganga,s. What Nassib Bunda did was to combin! e supernatural expertise military prowess. His claim to Islamic mystical knowledge contributed further to his prestige among his overwhelmingly illiterate followers, for it suggested control in the world of their former masters. Islamic trappings also provided a source of political legitimacy that transcended ethnic ties. It is not surprising that after 1885 Nassib Bunda styled himself "sultan" of Goshaland- and was recognized as such by Zanzibar and, later, European authori-ties. In the 1890’s, an Italian traveler found in Nassib’s employ a learned Muslim secretary who served him as adviser and correspondent with Muslim authoritis in Baraawe and Zanzibar (cited in Rossetti I900:36).

    Nassib Bunda’s policies were conditioned by the proximity of other political communities. A shrewd diplomat, he effectively used external alliances with neighboring Somalis and with Arab representatives of the su1tans of Zanzibar. In his earlier years, it appears, Nassib Bunda was hostile to all Somali clans save the Tunni, one of whom had rescued him from slavery and whose notables helped him gain recognition from the Egyptian expedition. Peaceful relations with the Tunni involved trade and the diffusion of Islamic learning. On at least one occasion, Nassib and some followers visited Baraawe, a center of the Qadiriya Muslim brotherh-ood and the main trading town of the Tunni (Rossetti 1900:33).

    More surprising, however, is the apparent accord that Nassiib Bunda reached with segments of the Biimaal and Sheekhal Somali. These largely pastoral clans had occupied the coastal plains between Baraawe and the Jüba River about the time Nassib Bunda first settled in Goshaland, and they had periodically attacked isolated hamlets and taken the local people as slave. After several indecisive skrimishes, Nassib Bunda apparently decided to neutralize them. He agreed not to admit his territory any runaway slaves from these clans.

    Nassib Bunda’s accommodation with the Zanzibar regime upon his short-lived recognition by the Egyptian expedition which bar saw as a direct challenge to its supremacy in East Africa. N policy used Zanzibar’s official efforts to end the slave trade and subs~, trade in other commodities. Sultan Barghash’s efforts to establish trading stations along the Somali coast had found little Somali support and frequent Somali hostility. The emergence of the Gosha enclave held out to Zanzibar the prospect of a new market and a commercial corridor to interior. Hence, by the 1880’s, Nassib Bunda was able to secure Zanzibar’s recognition of his authority (together with supply of firearms and ammunition) in exchange for his acceptance of the Sultan’s right to t up the Juba, a trade that never amounted to much.

    When, in 1890, British and Italian authorities moved to respective claims to what were to become the two Somalilands, 1 sought support of the "Sultan of Goshaland" by promising aim a stip However, while the European powers were interested in creating a pacific zone from which they could move out to subdue rebellious Somali clans the hinterland, Nassib Bunda was concerned with maintaining his control over the segments of his confederation. As old rivals like Songollo Mafulla threw in their lot with the British, Nassib appears to have immersed himself even more in the anti-European politics of the surrounding Somali. followers began covertly to supply food (and perhaps firearms) to Ogadeen Somali, then in revolt against the! British. On the Italian side of the Juba, he continued to attack Somali traders, leading the Italian resident to threaten him with imprisonment. By 1903, it was reported that a belligerent Nassib Bunda was corresponding with Mohammed Abdille Hassan the so-called "Mad Mullah" who was waging a holy war against British and Italian infidels in northern Somalia and was looking for allies in the south (Chiesi 1909:631-634). Nassib Bunda’s importance in the region may be gauged from the fact that Gosha at the time reprensented a force of guns. Excluding thousands of archers and spear bearers.

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