The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

REPORT ON SOMALIA
SHUKRIA DINI, NAIROBI
Understanding the origins of Somalia’s conflict
Somali women who have been affected by protracted statelessness and
militarized violence do have their unique experiences, stories of survival,
coping mechanisms, and strategies in responding to war challenges and
building peace, to share with the rest of the world. Such stories and experiences
are crucial not only to fully grasp the gendered outcomes of
the collapse of the Somali state and the militarized violence, but also to
share the women’s war stories that can help us comprehend their activism,
and their initiatives in times of war. I argue that women’s particular
experiences and initiatives can enrich and complement the top-down efforts
of building peace, and the overall recovery process. The Rosa Lux -
emburg Foundation office in Brussels has brought together woman
experts from countries affected by militarized violence, to share their
analyses of the conflicts with each other. Women from conflict zones,
including women from Somalia, have met to tell stories about their resistance
to the conflict and peace-building strategies, which is a form of
solidarity and peace-building in itself. This report only tells one of the
many stories of Somali women. Somali women’s experiences do vary,
and such diversity needs to be recognized and accommodated in peacebuilding
and post-conflict transformation, as well as in state building processes.
Through interviews, women in war-torn Somalia noted that the
world has either forgotten or ignored their plight compared to other
women living in some of the most violent zones. I hope that this report
can amplify the voices of Somali women, so that they can gain both the
attention and support of the world, including women of the Global North.
As the author of this report, I was also affected by the collapse of the
Somali state, following the protracted militarized violence, thus officially
becoming part of the statistics of a population forcibly displaced. It is
worth noting that Somali women are classified in various groups, and
the effects of the collapsed state and militarized conflict impact them
differently based on their age, class, geographical location, and clan.
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