Perouse de Montclose's History of Jareer-weyne/Somali Bantu

The American anthropologist Catherine Besteman regards the term Gosha as referring to the geographical area in which the Bantu live in the Juba Valley area. Gosha is classed as "dense jungle" and denotes the forested banks of the Juba river in Southern Somalia, i.e. the area between Kismayo and the town of Saakow. She makes a distinction between the "Gosha" or Bantu populations of the Juba Valley and the other Bantu farmers of the Shabelle Valley. She claims that the farmers of the Shabelle Valley have a distinct history and a somewhat different position in Somali society. The majority of the riverine farmers of the Juba Valley are descendants of slaves acquired by Somalis in the 19^th century.

According to Besteman it has been estimated that around 50,000 slaves were absorbed into the riverine areas between 1800 and 1890. During this period of expanded agricultural production in the Shabelle Valley, the more remote and forested Juba Valley remained largely uninhabited until the 1840s when the first fugitive slaves from the Shabelle Valley arrived and settled along the river. They were followed by a constant and increasing number of runaway slaves from the Shabelle Valley. Around the turn of the 20th century between 30,000 and 40,000 former slaves had settled in villages along the Juba river. These settlements were initially established along the lines of East African ethnic affiliations: Yao in one village, Nyasa in another, etc. Even today some villages in the Lower Juba area continue to retain a sense of ethnic distinctiveness, especially those settled by Mushunguli.

By the late 19^th century settlement patterns had begun to change as affiliations with Somali clans emerged as an important force in shaping village identity. This process took place as former slaves entering the area after about 1890 began to settle in communities of people who had been enslaved to the same Somali clan. Many people that arrived in the Juba Valley around the turn of the 20th century had been enslaved as children or had been born into slavery and thus held only tenuous connections to their original ethnic groups. For them, Somali clan affiliation provided a degree of social organisation and identity. Affiliation with Somali clans was strengthened by the influx of so-called pastoral slaves, for example Oromo pastoralists. Somalis captured Oromo, especially women and children, during raids and wars and they became slaves or servants. Intermarriage between the Oromo and the descendants of the slaves in the Juba Valley occurred. Later, so-called "reer Shabelle" immigrants began filtering into the valley, starting in the late 1920s and continuing into the 1960s. Their history is obscure, but they speak Somali, practise Islam and are closely affiliated with the Somali Ajuraan clan in their home area of Kalafo on the Shabelle River across the border in Ethiopia. Many reer Shabelle settled in Ajuraan-affiliated villages in the mid-valley area.

Besteman concludes from her historical sketch that it demonstrates the varied background of the people who settled the Juba Valley. These people are referred to in various terms. The derogatory term adoon (meaning slave) is still used to describe this population, but the more neutral term Gosha has become more prevalent as an inclusive identifier.

Perouse de Montclos explains that refugee status has altered the collective identity of the Gosha. The name Gosha has now been refused or left behind by the Bantu refugees in Kenya. It is considered pejorative because it refers to the "sleeping sickness" of the tsetse fly, i.e. idleness. They instead prefer to be called "Mushunguli" after one of the founders of fugitive slave communities along the Juba River.

The term jareer means "hard (or kinky) hair" and literally denotes hair texture and other physical characteristics such as particular bone structures and facial features, which are negatively valued by Somalis. Gosha are said to be bulkier while so-called "pure" Somalis are said to have longer, more slender fingers. But most significantly according to Besteman, the people who are jareer are considered more "African", as distinct from Somalis, who are considered more "Arabic". In opposition to the term jareer is either the term jileec (or jileyc), meaning "soft" or, more commonly, bilis (which is the opposite of adoon or "slave"). Besteman notes that Oromo descendants are not considered jareer, but this distinction is blurred by the fact that Oromo have intermarried with jareer, the descendants of the slaves.

According to Besteman the term jareer has its greatest significance in the cultural values embedded in being jareer (or "African"). It is a term that refers to history, that of non-Somali pagan slave origins, a history devalued in Somali culture and ideology. This has the effect in social terms that carrying a jareer identity is a denigrated status within the Somali social structure. On this basis Besteman concludes that the people of the Gosha, grouped together as jareer, share a lower status within Somali society.

The Bantu elders with whom the delegation met urged that the Bantu population in Somalia should not be considered as a minority population in Somalia, because, they argued, the Bantu constitute a majority in a number of regions in Somalia.

According to Perouse de Montclos the Bantu of southern Somalia represent a minority whose marginality is more easily seen. They represent less than 2% of the inhabitants of the country. Perouse describes the Bantu as made up of the descendants of slaves and Negroid groups present before the Somali migration. They are generally despised. While some succeeded in making themselves respected and in working on an equal footing with their neighbours, they do not belong to Somali lineages and are considered to be second class citizens.

6.1 Groups and sub-groups, geographical distribution

The Bantu elders estimated that between 30 and 40% of the population in Somalia are Bantu, but they acknowledged that no reliable statistics exist. A UN agency in Nairobi could not confirm these figures, but considered the estimate to be a slight exaggeration while at the same time they confirmed that no reliable statistics exist concerning the figures of the various population groups in Somalia. The same agency confirmed however that the Bantu population constitutes a majority of the population in a number of districts along the two main rivers in Somalia.

According to Perouse de Montclos (1997) the Bantu population in Somalia includes nearly one hundred thousand Swahili-speaking Gosha that are sometimes called dalgolet ("forest people" in Somali), molema (or mlima, "mountain people" in broken Swahili), watoro ("runaway slaves" in Oromo) or oji (from the Italian word oggi, "today", because these Bantu were said not to think beyond the present day).

According to the Bantu elders the Bantu mainly occupy the territory between the two main rivers in Somalia, the Shabelle and the Juba, the so-called inter-riverine area of Somalia. The area covers eight regions in southern and central Somalia. The elders stated that in the regions of Middle- and Lower Shabelle, Middle- and Lower Juba, Bay, Benadir and former Upper Juba (parts of which are now in Gedo region) the Bantu population is still today actually a majority.

The Bantu elders stated that so-called Negroid (black-skinned) Benadiri are considered to belong to the Bantu population and are called "Zanj", which means black or land of the black. The Zanj intermarry with the Bantu but the other, so-called 'light-skinned', Benadir population does not intermarry with the Bantu. The Zanj are slaves of the light-skinned Benadiri.

Perouse de Montclos considers the so-called Zendj (Zanj?) as a Negroid group of pre-Somali settlers. They were referred to by Arab travellers and Swahili as Kashour ("fugitives") and Wa-Nyika ("bush people") respectively. Some were later chased away or deported out of Somalia, but others remained in Somalia as farmers, hunters, fishermen, and artisans. They live between the Shabelle and Juba Rivers in the "green" part of Somalia, especially Jalalaksi, Kurtunware, Sablale, Dujuma, Garbahare and Jowhar districts.

The term "Bantu" covers a large number of sub-groups but these groups all consider themselves as belonging to one large group, the Jarer. However, according to the Bantu elders, some Bantu groups have been "brainwashed" to such an extent that they identify themselves with the non-Bantu clans with which they have been attached for a long time.

According to the Bantu elders the Bantu population is made up of a number of lineages, some of which live in certain areas and some of which are mixed and/or have resettled in other places in Somalia. Only a few groups are distinguished by their location, such as the Mushunguli, almost all of whom live in Lower Juba region. There are a number of well-known Bantu groups that are not attached and have not been swallowed up by the non-Bantu Somali clans. All of these Bantu groups are referred to as lineage-groups:

• Shabelle
• Shiidle
• Kabole
• Mushunguli
• Gabaweyn (Garbaweyn)
• Eyle (Eile)
• Makane

There is another group of less well-known Bantu-lineages, most of which are living in the Lower and Middle Juba areas:

• Manyasa
• Miyau
• Majindo
• Makua
• Mlima
• Pokomo

• Manyika

The Bantu elders explained that many Bantu groups would readily identify themselves with the non-Bantu clan that they are attached to and a Bantu from such a group will say, for example, that he is a Hawadle or an Abgal etc. Such a person considers his identity as totally incorporated into the non-Bantu clan with which he is affiliated. The above-mentioned second group of less well-known Bantu lineages originally came from one of the first-mentioned more well-known groups but have lost their identity to other non-Bantu groups. Migration and intermarriage can also result in a situation where a Bantu will not identify himself as belonging to one of the Bantu groups.

According to Somali sources quoted by IRIN those Bantu that have assimilated themselves with the indigenous clans they live with are known as 'sheegato', which means they are not bloodline clan members, but adopted.

The UNHCR overview distinguishes three so-called "Bantu groups": Mushunguli, Swahili and Bajuni. The Eyle are considered as a Mirifle sub-clan and the Gabawayn (Garbaweyn) as a separate minority group (see annex 3). Perouse de Montclos considers the Mushunguli and the Eyle (Eile) as Bantu groups. During its mission to Gedo region the Danish Immigration Service was informed that the Gabaweyn is a Bantu group.

A UN agency in Nairobi stated that the group identity of the Bantu population in Somalia is stronger than ever before. A person of Bantu origin will no longer automatically identify himself with one of the major Somali clans or sub-clans as the group identity of the Bantu has generally been strengthened during the civil war.

6.2 Language

The Bantu elders stated that a non-Bantu that has lived among the Bantu in Somalia would very often speak the same Somali dialect as the Bantu in his area. They stated that this was a result of what they described as the "cultural genocide" that the Bantu have experienced in Somalia.

Some Bantu groups have maintained their own Bantu dialect or language while others have completely lost their dialects. The Mushunguli of the Lower Juba still have their own dialect called "kiziguua" and the Mushunguli call themselves "waziguua". Any other Somali will call them Mushunguli. According to Perouse de Montclos the Zigua are of Tanzanian origin and they claim to be the first to have arrived in the Kismayo hinterland where they settled along ethnic lines in order to preserve their culture.

Perouse de Montclos notes that only a small proportion of the Mushunguli spoke a Bantu language while in Somalia (although three quarters of those that sought refuge in Kenya wanted to "return" to Tanzania).

Quoting Somali political sources, IRIN reported on 23 November 2000 that most of the current Bantu population in the Juba valley was originally from Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique. Some of the Bantu in southern Somalia have kept their traditions and speak the language of their ancestors.

6.3 Socio-economic situation

6.3.1 Relationship with other groups and clans

Perouse de Montclos writes that the so-called Negroids (Bantu) are made up of heterogeneous communities that are relatively widespread. At independence there was a Shidle Party but no political movement was able to unite the Bantu from Somalia. Most of these communities are in fact linked to a Somali lineage but with a more or less inferior status. Those of the Shabelle River thus acknowledge the authority of Hawiye clans (the Shidle are associated with the Mobilen, the Kabole with the Molcan, the Makanne with the Badi-Addo, the Rer Issa and the Shebelle with the Ajuran). Those of the Juba River, the Gobawein, work for the Gasar Gudda of Luuq, a Rahanweyn lineage that is seen by the other Somali clans as a low Sab caste, but is considered by the Rahanweyn as being 'noble'. Along the Juba River, one also finds hunting, farming and fishing communities such as the Ribi and the Boni. The Boni, or Bon, escaped the Oromo and now pay tribute to the Somali. Also other groups along the Juba and Shabelle Rivers are despised. The Eile (Eyle) (see chapter 8) of the Bur Eibi Hills, for example, have a name that, etymologically, comes from ei, their hunting dog. It is important to understand that all these names are appellations and not tribes, since the Somali deny the Bantu any genealogy that would legitimise their presence in the South of the country. The Helai of Baidoa thus claim to be a homonymous Rahanweyn lineage, settled at Bur Acaba; this relationship is obviously denied by the latter.

It should be noted that the Bantu elders in Nairobi described the Bantu as the most vulnerable and most seriously affected population in Somalia. They stated that, in contrast to other so-called minority groups such as the Benadiri and Madhiban, the Bantu have no close ties to other Somalis. While the Benadiri often intermarry with other Somalis this never happens between the Bantu and other Somalis. The Bantu are afraid to speak freely in Somalia and are the only group that is totally excluded and marginalised in political, social and economic terms. They claimed that Bantu identity is being suppressed because the 'Cushistic Somalis' want to deny the original ownership of Somalia by the Bantu, who are the true indigenous people and original inhabitants of Somalia.

Former governments in Somalia employed several Benadiri and Madhiban on a high level, but a Bantu has never held a government post as manager or as a Director-General.

The Bantu elders explained that the Siad Barre regime handed over land from Bantu to members of the Darod clans, especially in the Lower Shabelle, Middle and Lower Juba and Gedo regions, where a large number of Bantu were driven from their land. Some ended up as regular slaves on their former land, whereas some became beggars or tried to seek alternative occupations, which was difficult as they were farmers with no other skills. Some Bantu were also forcibly conscripted into the army from 1973 until the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991. Large areas of Bantu land were confiscated by the Siad Barre regime and given to non-Bantu Somalis under agricultural development projects supported by foreign donors. Bantu never benefited from such development projects. Even a project where the government exempted imported agricultural equipment from taxation did not benefit the Bantu as the agricultural equipment was bought by Somalis close to the government and then sold to other non-Bantu landowners. The so-called Cushistic or Jileec Somalis have, according to the Bantu elders, established a deliberate policy of suppression and impoverishment of people of Bantu origin in Somalia. This policy was established already during the colonial period and was continued by successive governments of independent Somalia. The independent governments never handed over land to the Bantu and their policy was to keep the identity of the Bantu hidden from the outside world. The government policy was that all land belongs to the so-called "protector", meaning a dominant Somali actor.

The Bantu elders stated that the Bantu in Somalia and in exile in Kenya are not satisfied with the outcome of the Arta peace conference. They stated that the conference did not allocate a proportional number of seats in the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) to the Bantu population. 29 seats were allocated to the so-called "minority groups" (or "Alliance Clans Community", as they were referred to at Arta). When consideration was given to the division of seats among the minority groups the Bantu delegates declared that they wanted 15 seats. However, the Benadir group offered the Bantu only nine seats even though, according to the Bantu elders, the Bantu are considered to be the "majority of the minority". The situation deteriorated further as the so-called Mediating Committee headed by Dr. Rajis, a Benadir, was, according to the Bantu elders, partial and the Bantu were finally allocated only six TNA seats. The Bantu elders stated that these six seats are all occupied by what they referred to as "infamous" Bantu and the Bantu elite and intellectuals were never invited to participate in the Arta conference.

6.3.2 Occupations

The Bantu communities in Somalia are typically agriculturalists, farmers or labourers on farms and plantations in the area between the Shabelle and Juba rivers in central and southern Somalia. A representative of a UN agency in Nairobi informed the delegation that the Bantu or Jareer population in Somalia know different levels of integration (or "Somalisation"), especially those living along the Shabelle River in central Somalia. Some Bantu are employed as plantation labourers and are almost in a situation of slavery. They are the only workforce available and they have no bargaining power against the main Somali clans, the Hawiye along the Shabelle River in the Lower Shabelle region and the Darod in Lower Juba. The source had no detailed information on the situation of the Bantu population in Lower Juba, southern Somalia. The Bantu are generally a resourceful people, and in North West Somalia (Somaliland) they are working as construction workers and as watchmen. In the North West and in North East Somalia (Puntland) their position is that of an "under-clan". They are safe throughout northern Somalia and in certain cases they could even marry very poor members of one of the major Somali clans.

6.4 Security and human rights situation

The Bantu elders explained that the Bantu are unarmed and are victims of serious human rights violations. They argued that human rights violations against the Bantu population in Somalia are of such a scale that they cannot be compared to the human rights violations against other, non-Bantu, populations in Somalia. They stated that there is an important difference in addressing human rights and addressing minority rights in Somalia because the Bantu population should not be regarded as a minority group.

The Bantu elders considered Somalia as a nation to be more racist than South Africa during its apartheid period. They feel they have no assurance from any future government in Somalia that the rights of the Bantu will be protected and they have no trust in a future government. They claimed that freedom of expression does not exist for the Bantu in Somalia and their voice is not being heard. Perouse de Montclos comes to a similar conclusion when he makes a distinction between the Bantu and the so-called Sab castes (the Digil, mainly the Tunni and the Rahanweyn). The camel-herding clans of northern Somalia despise the latter, but they are still part of the Somali lineage system and they will still be able to negotiate "when the hour of reconciliation arrives in Somalia". Minorities, who are not part of the lineage system, the Bantu and the 'half castes' "argue that they will never benefit from any compensation mediation procedures amongst the Somali clans".

Reporting on the planned resettlement of Somali Bantu in the United States, IRIN (23 November 2000) quotes humanitarian sources as saying that the minority Somali Bantu are "treated like second class citizens" by Somalis. Insecurity and the civil war in Somalia over the last decade made the group even more vulnerable, according to the source.

Enclosed as annex 7 is a document written for the delegation by Abdulkadir Moallim Omar, a Bantu elder from Luugh-Ganaane District in Gedo region who was interviewed by the delegation in Nairobi. The document details the origins of the Bantu peoples in Somalia, their history and their present situation in Somalia as well as their situation as refugees in Kenya.

Regarding the situation of the Bantu in Somalia, Omar writes that:

"when rivalries began with the overthrow of the military dictatorship, the Bantus became the worst hit. The Bantus' homes and farms and animals were taken over by the different militias not to mention money and other wealth. Some of them were forced to work for the militias that took their land. They worked in conditions not better than slaves. In certain areas the Bantu women cannot go down to the river to fetch water; they have either to pay for the water or they are denied the water or raped at gunpoint. There is a silent policy of ethnic cleansing in Somalia against the Bantu that the rest of the world is turning a deaf ear to."

Omar claims that the Bantu at the farms in both the Shabelle and the Lower Juba regions of Somalia are "forced to work at these farms at gunpoint over 24 hours without food and water most of the time. There are lots of examples of men, women and children who fainted because of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, who when they came to, were accused of pretence and shot dead as a warning to the others not to try to emulate them. Reports reaching us from Somalia claim that hundreds of Bantu young men were abducted by militias and taken to the Central regions of Mudug and Nugaal to look after the camels, when some of them tried to escape they were caught and burnt alive in front of the others. Most of them had to be bought back by their relatives - only a few managed to escape alive and reach home safely. It is commonplace in Mogadishu to take a Bantu man, woman, or family hostage and demand for ransom. Hardly any day passes without having, seeing or hearing a Bantu being killed in Mogadishu."

A UN agency informed the delegation that the Bantu population along the river Shabelle in the lower parts of Hiran region and the upper parts of Middle Shabelle region has been pushed towards the river banks to such an extent that today the Bantu live literally on the river bank itself.

A UN agency in Nairobi described the land issue in Somalia as "dynamite". They pointed out that while the Bantu population has so far been a loser in the land issue, they have never before been represented in a Somali Parliament, as they are now in the TNA. The Bantu population therefore now has more political influence than ever before in modern Somali history. Also, as a result of the civil war in Somalia a large number of Bantu fled the country and are now living in a diaspora in Kenya and in other countries. This has had the side effect that today the Bantu are better educated than ever before.

During the Dutch mission of November 1999 to Hargeisa and Puntland, an NGO source informed the mission that quite a few Bantu went to northern Somalia, especially Bosasso, where they often found work as construction workers. There had been some trouble with indigenous Puntland construction workers because the Bantu brought down wage levels. A UN source confirmed to the mission that large groups of Bantu worked in Puntland, mostly in construction. A second UN source and the Puntland authorities confirmed the presence of Bantu in Puntland. According to Somali sources quoted by IRIN (23 November 2000), Somali Bantu are almost exclusively found in the South, but many scattered during the civil war to parts of the North, where they work on buildings and take on odd jobs.

The UNCU/FSAU report on IDPs in northern Somalia mentions Bantu as one of the groups among the IDPs in northern Somalia.

6.5 Bantu refugees in Kenya and abroad

The Bantu elders were of the opinion that most of the Somali refugees in Europe and America are of non-minority origin and some of them participated in human rights violations in Somalia before they left their home country. They stated that the Bantu have no economic means to travel to the EU and apply for asylum; consequently there are no Bantu seeking asylum in Europe. The Bantu in Kenya have been offered resettlement in the USA and more than 10,000 Bantu in Kenya will be resettled during 2000 and 2001. European countries have also offered resettlement of the Bantu from Kenya, but the elders stated that it is a serious problem that during negotiations between UNHCR and the receiving countries no Bantu representatives have been consulted. This has resulted in a situation that many of the resettled Bantu are not really Bantu, but belong to other Somali groups of non-Bantu origin. The elders claimed that this has taken place in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the USA.

The Bantu elders informed the delegation that Bantu refugees initially stayed in UNHCR refugee camps along the Kenyan coast. Today the Bantu are only to be found in the Dadaab camps (3 camps) in Kenya's North Eastern Province and in one camp in Kakuma near Turkana. About 15,000 Bantu are registered in these camps. Very difficult humanitarian and security conditions in the camps have made many Bantu leave the camps and settle in Nairobi, Mombasa and other urban centres in Kenya. These persons are no longer under the protection of the UNHCR and they are vulnerable to harassment from the Kenyan police and risk being deported to Somalia against their will. According to the Bantu elders the London-based Minority Rights Group has reported such incidents. It is not only the Bantu that have these problems in Kenya but all Somalis that do not belong to the major Somali clans.

The Bantu elders made it clear that they will not return to Somalia before they are convinced that they will have a just government with a fair Bantu representation in the Parliament. However, the elders stated, no Bantu believes that justice will come to Somalia and that the Bantu will ever be considered as equal citizens in Somalia; so long as policies in Somalia are made by non-Bantu Somalis there will never be justice for the Bantu. For this reason, the Bantu community appeals to be accepted as refugees abroad. The Bantu elders argued that the United Nations and other international organisations have an obligation to consult the Bantu population to a much higher degree than it is the case today. They believe that the present UN system relates to a large degree only to those who have the power in Somalia and overlooks the suppressed. They feel that if a new government is formed in Somalia the Bantu will face even larger problems than before because international donors and organisations will deal with the government rather than with the minority groups. They believe that the reason why the US Government has accepted to Bantu for resettlement in the USA is exactly because they have realised that the Bantu refugees will never be able to return to Somalia. The Bantu elders believe that UNHCR will not accept this fact because UNHCR will then loose its strong position in Kenya and Somalia. The elders stated that UNHCR executives enjoy good relations with the Somali warlords and elders who are in control of areas where UNHCR has operations. The elders claimed that UNHCR gives consultation fees to the warlords and the elders in such areas in order to operate there, especially in south-western Somalia. Programmes intended to facilitate the repatriation of refugees have ended up in the hands of people connected with the warlords.

See also annex 7 in which Abdulkadir Mallim Omar states that the situation of the Bantu in the refugee camps in Kenya is no better than their situation in Somalia. He writes that the Bantu in the refugee camps, especially in the camps at Dadaab, Ifo and Hagar-Dheer, are being directly or indirectly intimidated. According to Omar the Bantu in the refugee camps in Kenya claim that Somalis from the main clans are posing as Bantu in order to qualify for resettlement.

 Back to the front