Eastern Zone DCSA

Mogadishu Conflict and Security Assessment Report 

Eastern Zone 

June, 2014 

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AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS 

Ahmed Musa (Lead Researcher, OCVP) 

Asiya Osman (Researcher, OCVP) 

Kenneth Mutinda (Researcher, OCVP) 

Omar Abshir (Data Analyst, OCVP) 

Disclaimer 

This report is not a legally binding document; it is an assessment document and does not necessarily reflect the views of the institution in all its 

contents. Any errors are the sole responsibility of the authors. 

©The Observatory of Conflict and Violence Prevention 

All rights are reserved. Requests for permission to reproduce or translate OCVP’s publications – whether for sale or for non-commercial 

distribution – should be addressed to the OCVP via (email: info@ocvp.org). Publications of OCVP can be obtained from our offices in Mogadishu, 

Somalia, or could be downloaded from our website www.ocvp.org. 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The Observatory of Conflict and Violence Prevention (OCVP) would like to thank the interviewees and survey participants who gave us their 

precious time and shared their thoughts on such sensitive issues. 

We also thank the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, for providing us with financial support needed to 

undertake this survey through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Somalia 

We are deeply indebted to the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS) for their generous support of availing us Mogadishu’s districts 

household estimates without which designing of the study sample size would have been impractical. 

Finally, we are grateful to the former Mayor and Governor of Banadir region Mayor Mohamoud Ahmed Nur (Tarsan) whose office granted a 

letter of endorsement for the mission and directed all the District Commissioners (DCs) to support the mission despite the impending handover 

to his successor. 

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Abbreviations 

AMISOM 

DCC 

DCSA 

DFID 

FGD 

HIPS 

IDP 

KII 

NGOs 

NISA 

OCVP 

SRM 

UNDP 

African Union Mission in Somalia 

District Court Commission 

District Conflict and Security Assessment 

Department for International Development 

Focus Group Discussion 

Heritage Institute for Policy Studies 

Internally Displaced Persons 

Key Informant Interview 

Non-Governmental Organisations 

National Intelligence and Security Agency 

Observatory of Conflict and Violence Prevention 

Simple Random Sampling 

United Nations Development Programme 

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Contents 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................................................................................................................................. ii 

Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ iii 

The Study Area Map ............................................................................................................................................................................................ viii 

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ix 

Divergences ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... ix 

Conflict and violence .......................................................................................................................................................................................... x 

Security .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. x 

Justice ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... xi 

Governance ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... xi 

1. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 

1.1. Overview ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 

1.2. Sampling Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1 

1.3. Household Survey ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 

1.4. Focus Groups Discussions ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3 

1.5. Key Informant Interviews ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3 

1.6. Limitations .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 

2. PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 

3. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE, SECURITY, JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS .................................................................................................. 8 

3.1. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8 

3.1.1. Dynamics of Conflict and Violence ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 

3.1.2. Level of Experience .............................................................................................................................................................................. 9 

3.1.3. Perception of Safety ............................................................................................................................................................................11 

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3.2. SECURITY PROVIDERS .................................................................................................................................................................................14 

3.2.1. Level of Deployment ...........................................................................................................................................................................14 

3.2.2. Preference of the Security Providers ...................................................................................................................................................15 

3.2.3. Perception towards Security Providers ..........................................................................................................................................17 

3.2.4. Perception of AMISOM ..................................................................................................................................................................19 

3.3. JUSTICE PROVIDERS ...................................................................................................................................................................................20 


3.3.2. Performance of the Justice Providers ..................................................................................................................................................21 

3.3.3. Perception of Justice Providers ............................................................................................................................................................26 

3.4. GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS .........................................................................................................................................................................30 


3.4.2. Performance of the Governance providers ..........................................................................................................................................31 

3.4.3. Perception of Governance Providers ...................................................................................................................................................32 

4. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................................................................35 

5. ANNEXES ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................36 

Annex 5.1: Sample size .....................................................................................................................................................................................36 

Annex 5.2: GLOSSARY OF TERMS ......................................................................................................................................................................37 

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Table of Figures 

Figure 1: Number of male and female respondents within districts ........................................................................................................................ 3 

Figure 2: Percentage of respondents within districts (by gender) ........................................................................................................................... 3 

Figure 3: Respondents by gender ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6 

Figure 4: Respondents’ age groups (by gender) ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 

Figure 5: Respondents’ marital status .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 

Figure: 6: Respondents’ level of education (by gender) .......................................................................................................................................... 7 

Figure 7: Respondents’ awareness of conflict occurrence ...................................................................................................................................... 8 

Figure 8: Respondents’ awareness of conflict occurrence ...................................................................................................................................... 9 

Figure 9: Respondents’ estimation of the level of conflict (by gender) ................................................................................................................... 9 

Figure 10: Respondents’ account of the causes of conflict ....................................................................................................................................10 

Figure 11: Respondents’ account of witnessing a crime against someone outside the homestead ........................................................................11 

Figure 12: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area .....................................................................................................................................11 

Figure 13: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (by gender) ...................................................................................................................12 

Figure 14: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (Year on year trend by gender) .....................................................................................12 

Figure 15: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (year on year trend by locality) .....................................................................................13 

Figure 16: Respondents’ awareness of police presence .........................................................................................................................................14 

Figure 17: Respondents’ estimation of the number of police stations ...................................................................................................................14 

Figure 18: Respondents’ estimation of distance to police station ..........................................................................................................................15 

Figure 19: Respondents’ preference of reporting civil matters: land disputes, divorce etc… (by gender) ...............................................................16 

Figure 20: Respondents’ preference of reporting on petty crimes: robbery, household violence (by gender) ........................................................16 

Figure 21: Respondents’ preference of reporting on serious crimes: grave assaults, rape and murder (by gender) ...............................................16 

Figure 22: Most trusted security provider in responding to crime (by gender) ......................................................................................................17 

Figure 23: Reason for choice of traditional elders as the most trusted informal security provider .........................................................................18 

Figure 24: Respondents’ level of trust in the formal security provider (Police) (by gender) ...................................................................................18 

Figure 25: Respondents' perception of the performance of the police - yearly trend (by gender) ..........................................................................19 

Figure 26: Respondents' awareness of courts .......................................................................................................................................................20 

Figure 27: Respondents’ estimation of the number of courts ................................................................................................................................21 

Figure 28: Walking distance to the court ...............................................................................................................................................................21 

Figure 29: Respondents’ usage of courts ...............................................................................................................................................................22 

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Figure 30: Respondents’ usage of courts (by gender) ............................................................................................................................................22 

Figure 31: Respondents’ usage of traditional elders ..............................................................................................................................................23 

Figure 32: Respondents’ usage of traditional elders (by gender) ...........................................................................................................................23 

Figure 33: Respondents’ account of referral to the traditional elders (by gender) .................................................................................................23 

Figure 34: Respondents’ account of the issues taken to traditional elders ............................................................................................................24 

Figure 35: Respondents' account of issues taken to traditional elders (by gender) ................................................................................................24 

Figure 36: Respondents’ account on issuance of judgments ..................................................................................................................................25 

Figure 37: Respondents’ account on the enforcement of judgments .....................................................................................................................25 

Figure 38: Respondents’ usage of religious leaders (by gender) ............................................................................................................................26 

Figure 39: Respondents’ trust of justice providers ................................................................................................................................................27 

Figure 40: Respondents’ trust of justice providers (by gender) ..............................................................................................................................27 

Figure 41: Respondents’ reason of choice (by gender) ..........................................................................................................................................28 

Figure 42: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice system .............................................................................................................28 

Figure 43: Respondents' perception of the performance of the formal court (yearly trend0 .................................................................................29 

Figure 44: Respondents’ awareness of local council ..............................................................................................................................................30 

Figure 45: Respondents’ awareness of the services provided by the district administrations (by gender) ..............................................................30 

Figure 46: Respondents’ awareness of communication channels ..........................................................................................................................31 

Figure 47: Respondents’ awareness of communication channels (by gender) .......................................................................................................32 

Figure 48: Respondents’ participation in local government consultations .............................................................................................................32 

Figure 49: Respondents’ perception towards the importance of elected representatives .....................................................................................33 

Figure 50: Respondents’ opinion about important services provided by the local council .....................................................................................33 

Figure 51: Respondents’ opinions about the most pressing local issues ................................................................................................................34 

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The Study Area Map 

Map of Mogadishu (Eastern zone districts): Adopted from UN OCHA 2009 

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Executive Summary 

Mogadishu is the nation’s capital and the largest city in Somalia, known locally as Hamar; it is located in the costal Banadir Region. The Eastern 

Zone is one of the four zones in Mogadishu (delineation made by the security institutions) and consists of four districts 1 : Karaan, Yakshiid, 

Heliwaa and Shibis. Mogadishu has experienced an immense amount of political instability in the past three decades, the collapse of the Siyad 

Barre regime in 1991 plunged the country, and the capital city in particular, into a state of anarchy. In 2006 the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) seized 

control of Mogadishu from various warring clan militias; subsequently the ICU were then defeated by a combination of the Transitional Federal 

Government (TFG), Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers in late 2006 – early 2007. The ICU splintered into various different factions 

after their defeat: with Al-Shabaab, the military wing of the ICU, the most prominent. From 2008 Al-Shabaab remained a prominent threat to 

the ruling powers of Mogadishu and engaged the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) 

allies in a prolonged period of conflict, however, in 2010 the TFG and its military allies succeeded in expelling Al-Shabaab forces from the city. 

Since that juncture Mogadishu has remained in the control of the government, however, Al-Shabaab has continued to target the newly formed 

Somali Federal Government and its allies with sporadic, but sustained, episodes of violence – notably - targeted suicide bombings and guerrillastyle 

attacks. Many of the national institutions are based in the Mogadishu with the three main government pillars: the executive, legislatives 

and judiciary all based in the city. 

Continual assessment of issues directly affecting community safety and security is critical to effective evidence based programming, informed 

decision making and measuring the impact of related programmatic interventions: it enables a better understanding of what works and doesn’t 

work at the community level. With this in mind district level assessments map out and provide a better understanding of issues that affect 

targeted communities across the Somali regions. By using key indicators for selected thematic areas, this report provides an assessment on the 

state of conflict, governance, justice as well as safety and security in the Eastern Zone of Mogadishu. This assessment was conducted from 19th 

to 23rd March 2014; the FGDs were conducted from 3rd to 5th March, while the KIIs were conducted from 14 

th to 24 th March. 

Divergences 

There is a possibility for qualitative and quantitative data to diverge in mixed method research approaches - combining methods cannot always 

be used for cross-validation purposes as they may not always produce one picture. Discrepancies were witnessed during both the data collection 

and analysis phase. According to the quantitative data, respondents were witnessing very little or no crimes and their level of confidence in the 

1 Mogadishu zones: provided by HIPS and later cross checked with the regional authorities 

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police was very high. The qualitative data, however, revealed a number of alarming incidents related to crime and violence; moreover, the focus 

group participants harshly criticized the police and disparaged their effectiveness. 

The divergences were reconciled with the context of the study site, the unstable environment and fear of existing insurgencies had resulted in a 

climate of fear with people being very cautious to whom they give information to - research participants were reticent to speak of, or report, 

crimes for fear of being victimised themselves. 

Researchers witnessed a sense of reluctance from the household survey respondents in answering questions due to the pervasive wariness of 

speaking to outsiders. The level of mistrust and fear apparent within the districts engendered superficial responses from respondents across a 

number of thematic areas, but were most notable in questions related to security, conflict and violence. Unfortunately this was to the detriment 

of the assessment and affected both accuracy and efficacy. Researchers also noticed that focus group participants tended to withhold 

information; however the moderator was able to engage with them and alleviate their mistrust, resulting in highly informative discussions. 

The following summarises the key findings of the assessment: 

Conflict and violence 

Although episodes of widespread systemic group/clan related violence have reduced dramatically, reports of a proliferation of small arms 

continue to exacerbate the volatile security situation. There were allegations that militants of unascertained status erect roadblocks at night and 

extort civilians. This is an issue that calls for further investigation and action by the properly mandated security apparatus. Additionally, land 

disputes were reported as the most common cause of conflict and family disputes were reported as the most common incidences of violence. 

Land disputes derived from a lack of stable central governance and a land administration system according to participants; while family disputes 

were attributed to the dire socio-economic situation apparent in the district. 

Security 

While there is a police station in every district the number of police officers was perceived to be insufficient and the subsequent coverage and 

visibility of the police was minimal (only respondents from neighbourhoods near the stations reported an awareness of police presence). The 

police were not only understaffed but also underfunded, underpaid and lacking in many facilities that has rendered them vulnerable to 

corruption. Besides the police force there were other security providers operating in the district including: African Union Mission in Somalia 

(AMISOM), the Somali National Army (SNA), the National Intelligence Services Agency (NISA) and numerous armed factions whose status could 

not be determined by respondents. The efforts of the various security providers were not well coordinated. In the absence of a well-functioning 

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police force, the community relied on traditional elders and other informal security providers such as informal clan militia, neighbourhood 

watches and private security companies for protection. 

Justice 

There is a court in every district, however, the usage of these courts was very low and they lack necessary resources for the efficient provision of 

justice. Usage of the courts was largely limited to civil matters – specifically family disputes and it was also found that religious leaders are rarely 

used for justice provision – there are no registered Shari’ah offices in Mogadishu’s Eastern Zone. Traditional elders appear to be the most 

commonly utilised justice provider as the community perceives them to grant fair judgements that are less costly and more capable of 

enforcement than the formal courts. The traditional elders also solved disputes of a predominantly civil nature although they were occasionally 

involved in the arbitration of more serious issues, including criminal cases. 

Governance 

The Banadir region hosts the capital of Somalia and is also the seat of the Municipality of Mogadishu which encompasses all 16 districts in the 

region. Unlike other regions of Somalia, in Banadir the provision of services at the district level is overseen by the Municipal Authority working 

through the respective District Administrations. The districts in Mogadishu are (at the time of writing) unique because they do not have local 

councils that may be responsible for service delivery (as is the case in other regions). A majority of the respondents were nonetheless unaware 

of the existence of the District Administrations - and those that were had little interaction with their representatives. The provision of local 

governance has suffered under prolonged periods of insecurity and a prevailing absence of stable central governance. The high levels of socioeconomic 

strife have only served to make matters worse, with respondents citing high levels of unemployment, poor education, poor health and 

sanitation and a lack of infrastructure as most pressing needs in the community. 

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1.1. Overview 

As part of its continual assessment of issues directly affecting 

community security and safety, OCVP conducted extensive primary 

data collection in several districts of Mogadishu: Karaan, Yakshiid, 

Heliwaa and Shibis districts which comprise the EASTERN ZONE. 

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the thematic 

areas under investigation a mixed method approach was employed 

in order to allow the research team to triangulate information 

uncovered in both the data collection phase and subsequent 

analysis. The household surveys aimed to obtain a representative 

picture of the thematic areas under study and Key Informant 

Interviews were used to probe deeper into, and cross-validate, 

issues that emerged from the Focus Group Discussions. 

1. METHODOLOGY 

enabled the application of a sampling formula 2 to determine a 

representative sample size for each district. Taking into account 

certain statistical parameters such as the level of confidence desired 

(95%), sample design effect (1.5), margin of error (+ or – 5%) and 

the assumption that some security correlation of (0.3) existed 

within the sub-divisions. 

The p-value of 0.3 in the formula assumes security correlation 

above a random normal distribution of 0.5 within the district 

clusters. This is a reasonable assumption based on the topic of the 

survey – respondents within the districts of Mogadishu are likely to 

possess a correlating relationship between their perceptions based 

of the surrounding security environment. This is further backed on 

OCVP’s past experience in which those from the same area tend to 

exhibit similar perceptions on security, justice, governance and 

conflict and violence. 

The quantitative data was analysed by the OCVP Research and 

Analysis team using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 

version 21, after the data had been collated and cleaned by 

Swisspeaks - an independent quality control firm. The qualitative 

data was subjected to thematic analysis, using a largely inductive 

process. The main themes of coding were developed before the 

mission in line with the hypothesis but further coding was 

inductively included during analysis. 

Finally a total of 483 household questionnaires were calculated for 

the zone (although not all responses were collected, see qualitative 

limitations at section 1.6), and then a calculated ratio (number of 

households in the district over the total number of households in 

the zone multiplied by the calculated sample size for the zone) was 

employed to come up with the number of households that should 

represent each district. 

1.2. Sampling Methodology 

A district household survey provided by Heritage Institute for Policy 

Studies (HIPS) and later cross-checked with the regional authorities 

2 See Annex 5.1 

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1.3. Household Survey 

A face-to-face quantitative survey was conducted in which 

questions relating to personal demographics, security, justice and 

governance provision, and conflict and violence were asked. OCVP 

researchers trained eight data enumerators (4 male and 4 female) 

on the questionnaire methodology and the use of smart-phones for 

data collection from February 24 th to 25 th 2014. During the training 

the enumerators and OCVP researchers discussed the use of smartphones 

for data collection and the potential risks involved and 

finally agreed on measures to mitigate the identified risks (including 

an explanation on the use of the device and the request for the 

respondent’s prior consent). 

The Eastern Zone is comprised of the eastern districts of Mogadishu 

and was observed to be relatively peaceful at the time of the data 

collection - except Heliwaa district which was deemed to be very 

insecure. Based on previous experience and data collection 

exercises in the other zones of Mogadishu, researchers were aware 

of the possible existence of ‘hot spots’ – areas where the security 

situation was particularly volatile and data collection was deemed 

to be higher risk. Adhering to the Systematic Random principle 

(SRM) employed in the central zone would have been impractical 

and potentially dangerous; therefore researchers were obliged to 

recruit local facilitators from the district to avoid hot spots and 

potentially violent elements of the community. These facilitators 

possessed a profound knowledge of the district and a pre-existing 

relationship with the local population. The local facilitators advised 

on the enumerators’ movements and personal security. In addition 

to that, they facilitate the collection of some household 

questionnaires based on their personal connections and 

acquaintances. This has resulted, however, in the random 

systematic selection of the households being compromised and 

somewhat undermined the validity of the data collected. 

The eight trained enumerators supported by the two local 

facilitators (recruited from the district administrations) under the 

supervision of two OCVP researchers were able to identify the 

divisions, subdivisions and neighbourhoods in each of the districts 

and then agreed on a starting point for each of the enumerators. 

The local facilitators were also able to identify boundaries between 

the subdivisions and neighbourhoods. Where appropriate, 

enumerators randomly selected any 5th household and interviewed 

one respondent above the age of 18 or would interview the 

household respondents based on the local facilitator’s identification 

and/or advice. A gender balance was emphasised across the entire 

survey. The data collection was carried out until the pre-calculated 

number of households in the district were covered (though 20 out 

304 households in Yakshiid and the whole of Heliwaa district - 83 

households - were not surveyed). Compromising the sampling 

probability method was seen as a necessary trade-off for successful 

data collection and the safety of the enumerators. 

The 8 enumerators collected 380 household observations in three 

districts: Karaan, Yakshiid and Shibis from 19th to 23rd March 2014. 

The data was collected in Somali language with the use of smartphones 

which was subsequently uploaded onto the SwissPeaks 

database when an internet connection was available. 

2

Figure 1: Number of male and female respondents within districts 

Figure 2: Percentage of respondents within districts (by gender) 

1.4. Focus Groups Discussions 

The second research tool utilized was a series of Focus Group 

Discussions (FGDs) aimed at capturing participants’ perception on 

security and justice providers (formal and informal), governance 

providers and the dynamics and experiences of conflict and 

violence. The FGDs were conducted from the 3rd to 5th March at 

the OCVP’s office in Mogadishu and Ramaada Hotel; each discussion 

group lasted for about an hour. 

A total of eight groups were involved in the FGDs: Women, Men, 

Youth, Business Persons, Internally Displaced Persons, Religious 

Leaders, Traditional Elders and District Peace Committees with each 

group roughly consisting of 10 participants. Qualitative research 

participants were recruited from all districts including Heliwaa 

district. 

Four group discussions were moderated per day by 2 OCVP 

researchers over the course of 2 days. The moderators used FGD 

questionnaires to guide, but not limit, the scope of the discussion 

with the help of trained note takers who recorded both consensus 

and dissenting views in order to increase understanding of the 

subject under discussion. 

OCVP’s Mogadishu office recruited local organisers to assist in the 

recruitment of the participants, using criteria based on clan-lines, 

geographic coverage, social class, gender and age group. 

1.5. Key Informant Interviews 

The third tool utilised for data collection was personal interviews 

with key informants who possessed experiential knowledge about 

3

the themes under investigation. The aim was to go deeper into the 

subject areas and cross-validate the issues raised in the FGDs. 

The interviews were conducted from 14th to 24th March 2014 at 

the respective offices of the interviewees, Ramaada hotel and OCVP 

offices in Mogadishu. Each interview lasted for about half an hour, 

although some interviews with the local authorities were shortened 

due to their busy schedules. Eleven key informants were 

interviewed, including: District Commissioner, Deputy District 

Commissioner, District Administration Secretary, District Court 

Commissioner, Religious Leaders, Key Business Persons, Traditional 

Elders, Regional Court Chairperson, District Police Commissioner 

and Legal Expert. 

The local organiser assisted in the scheduling of the interviews 

which were conducted by OCVP researchers beginning with 

questions that were tailored to the interviewee and then generally 

cut-across the thematic areas of governance, justice, security and 

conflict and violence. Police officers declined to be interviewed. 

1.6. Limitations 

Collecting data from conflict-zones is problematic, and collecting 

data from Mogadishu was no different despite it being in a nascent, 

albeit fragile, post-conflict stage of recovery. There were numerous 

limitations and challenges faced during the data collection with a 

general misgiving and distrust of any data collection reflected in the 

participants. 

Below are the most notable limitations that could affect the value of 

the findings. 

Sample Size 

With the lack of accurate population statistics, it was difficult to 

calculate a representative sample size for each zone with the use of 

conventional sampling formulas. To manage this, OCVP employed a 

sample size formula that is not heavily dependent on accurate 

population statistics and leant on the data provided by HIPS. 

Secondly, it was difficult to spread the required number of 

questionnaires according to the different possible sampling 

locations. This in turn could possibly have compromised the 

representativeness of the data, and despite mitigating measures to 

address this being limited the OCVP tried to ensure data was as 

geographically representative as possible. 

Quantitative limitations 

A representative sample size of 483 households was calculated for 

the eastern zone, of this sample the research team managed to 

collect 380 household surveys in the zone. The initial plan was to 

collect data from all 4 pre-identified districts of the zone but 2 

districts were affected by a volatile security situation: Yakshiid 

District was partially affected while Heliwaa District was entirely 

inaccessible to the data enumerators. 

Yakshiid district consists of 6 smaller subdivisions and it is one of the 

largest and most recently liberated districts of Mogadishu, secondly, 

it borders with Dayniile which still contains some active insurgent 

elements. District administration authorities advised that at least 3 

out of 6 subdivisions of the district (Tawkal, Towfiiq and 1 da Luulyo) - 

neighbouring with Jidka Warshadaha - were also very volatile. 

Consequently researchers did not enter the subdivisions and 19 

4

household observations were lost. Heliwaa was a major hot spot 

and particularly volatile at the time of the data collection. On 18 th 

February, 2014 the District Commissioner stated in a press 

conference that they were losing ground to Al-Shabaab - insurgent 

groups were taking full control of the district at night (during the 

initial days of the data collection people were still fleeing from this 

district to other more secure areas of Mogadishu). 

With this in mind and after thorough consultations with local actors, 

including other research institutes, the team was advised not to 

collect data from this district as the probability of coming into 

harm’s way was deemed too high. This resulted in the team being 

unable to collect data from 83 households as planned for this 

district. 

Across all the districts in the Eastern Zone many of the research 

participants gave superficial answers to security, conflict and 

violence related questions that did not seem to reflect the reality on 

the ground – as previously mentioned many respondents were 

cautious of providing a truer picture of the district. Researchers 

have emphasised the qualitative data in the analysis phases to 

mitigate against potentially inaccurate findings in the quantitative 

data collection. 

Qualitative Limitations 

Most of the local authorities did not have enough time to be 

interviewed due to their busy schedules and the researchers could 

not probe deeper into issues raised. Secondly, some groups were 

not willing to engage openly in the discussion and were slightly 

dubious of speaking freely amongst the FGDs, though discussion 

moderators tried to mitigate this by making the discussion more 

informal and friendly. Focus Group Discussion participants would, 

after a time, open up about the true situation in their district and 

provide the data collectors with what was deemed to be a more 

accurate picture of the areas under discussion. 

Finally, researchers used a mixed method approach in order for the 

qualitative and quantitative data to allow for research 

complementarity. The two datasets were not captured without 

some challenges, especially inconsistencies between the data 

provided by the survey respondents and the information captured 

during focus group discussions and key informant interviews - 

particularly the questions related to safety. 

Lastly, most household respondents could not easily understand or 

differentiate roles played by different public institutions such as the 

courts, police, military, regional authority and district authority and 

most of the respondents were speculating on roles and 

responsibilities - adversely impacting on the accuracy of the 

information being provided. 

5

The total number of female respondents from the three districts 

represented 54% of the entire sample (n=205) and the male 46% 

(n=175) (Fig 3). An equal representation of gender as possible is 

crucial in identifying the findings of those research areas 

disaggregated into male and female; this allows researchers to have 

a clear depiction of the differences in experience between the two 

genders throughout the entire report. 

Figure 3: Respondents by gender 

2. PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS 

Figure 4: Respondents’ age groups (by gender) 

Due to the nature of the study, only respondents above the age of 

18 were interviewed. Most of the respondents were between 20 

and 49 years of age (n=281) and made up a cumulative 73% of the 

sampled population (Fig 4). 

6

Most of the respondents (74%) (n=280) in Eastern Zone were 

married. Single and widowed respondents made up 12% (n=45) and 

8% (n=31) respectively, while divorced respondents formed 6% of 

the population sample (n= 24) (Fig 5). 

Figure 5: Respondents’ marital status 

Secondary school education formed 13% and 10% respectively while 

only 4% had tertiary education. Additionally, 5% of the sampled 

population were self-schooled (Fig 6). 

Figure: 6: Respondents’ level of education (by gender) 

When disaggregated by level of education, it was observed that the 

largest category of respondents (35%) (n=134) had no form of 

education, with the female quota being notably greater; forming 

25% of the total population compared to 10% males. Of the 

respondents with some level of education, most had attended 

Madrassa (Quranic School) (29%) while those who had attained an 

intermediate level of education made up 14% of the sampled 

population. Respondents with Primary School education and 

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3. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE, SECURITY, JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS 

3.1. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE 

3.1.1. Dynamics of Conflict and Violence 

While a state of general insecurity had been persisting in the 

Eastern Zone there were very few recalled instances of outright 

conflict between clans or groups reported in the past 12 months. 

Almost all the respondents (97%) stated that they had not 

witnessed clan/group related conflict (Fig 7). 

Figure 7: Respondents’ awareness of conflict occurrence 

Focus group discussions made it clear that clan conflicts had 

dramatically reduced and, currently, the most common types of 

disputes had underlying socioeconomic causes- the examples 

provided were a large number of land disputes due to the 

prolonged absence of a stable central government 3 and family 

disputes due to extreme levels of poverty 4 . A business group 

discussion participant remarked that “acute poverty and economic 

privations in the community are pushing the youth to crimes”, 

similarly, the Danynar IDP camp chairperson stated that “the 

hardening living conditions and the urban life which is becoming too 

demanding are the root causes of the family destruction in the 

IDPs”. 

3 Religious Leader, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 23 March 2014 

4 Business Group, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 3 March 2014 

8

Figure 8: Respondents’ awareness of conflict occurrence 

Figure 9: Respondents’ estimation of the level of conflict (by 

gender) 

As stated before, the level of conflicts between clans or groups was 

remarkably low; none of the respondents interviewed in Kaaraan 

District had witnessed this type of conflict in the past 12 months (Fig 

8). According to one business group discussion participant “the clan 

conflict that Mogadishu was notorious for in the last two decades 

have become less obvious” 5 . 

3.1.2. Level of Experience 

The low levels of inter-group conflict were reported in almost equal 

measure by the male and female respondents in the household 

survey (Fig 9). 

The reported absence of clan conflict did not mean total peace for 

the residents in the eastern zone: the emergence of indiscriminate 

suicide attacks, hand grenade attacks, targeted killings and mortar 

attacks resulted in people living in mortal fear 6 . Additionally, 

participants argued that security officers shoot arbitrarily after 

suicide attacks, which creates mayhem and sometimes more 

victims 7 . Suicide attacks had mainly targeted government buildings, 

officers and hotels frequented by government officers or visitors 

and were generally located outside the eastern zone; participants 

still feel the effects of these attacks - either directly or indirectly 


6 Men’s Group, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 3 March 2014 


9

through their family members. The prevailing sense of fear emerged 

in one focus group discussion 8 where participants requested that 

the moderator shorten the discussion 9 in order for them to reach 

their homes earlier: participants reported that they came from 

remote districts (Karaan, Shibis, Heliwaa and Yakshiid), and did not 

feel safe on the way to their homes 10 . 

Thugs and local militias mainly targeted shanty houses in the city 

and the victims feared reporting the perpetrators (some victims 

knew the offenders), due to a fear of retribution and abuse if they 

upset the offender(s). 

11 Those who reported the perpetrators to the 

police claimed that police asked them to bring food for the 

suspects, since the victim caused the arrest and the police would 

not keep them in their custody otherwise 12 . One of the participants 

who lived in a shanty house in Heliwaa district reported an incident 

where a man entered their house looking for a young girl who lived, 

the girl was not home so the man started to harm the girl’s female 

family members 13 . The woman recounting the incident stated that 

she suffered a broken arm in the incident (she revealed a crooked, 

but healed, broken arm to the discussion participants). 

In regard to the causes of conflict; the most commonly cited in the 

Eastern Zone was family disputes (Fig 10). 

8 Traditional elders, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 4 March 2014 

9 The discussion lasted less than thirty minutes 





Figure 10: Respondents’ account of the causes of conflict 

By observation, respondents in the household survey were hesitant 

to divulge in-depth information on victimisation perhaps for fear of 

recrimination. Only 3% of the household survey respondents 

admitted having witnessed a crime or incident of violence 

committed against someone outside their homestead (Fig 11). 

Qualitative participants, on the other hand, reported more 

numerous and frequent incidences of crime occurring. In the 

women’s focus group discussion a participant stated, “there is a 

high possibility that we can be killed after this ‘Workshop’ as there 

are those who target people who come for such meetings, we are 

going to go under cover after leaving here” 14 . 

14 Women Group, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 3 March 2014 

10

Figure 11: Respondents’ account of witnessing a crime against 

someone outside the homestead 

in the qualitative discussions 15 . On the other hand respondents in 

the household survey reported fairly high levels of safety (Fig 12). 

Figure 12: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area 

Many of the suicide attacks in Mogadishu tended to be 

indiscriminate and civilians had been caught in explosions or 

ensuing crossfire. According to the women discussion participants, 

victims from poor backgrounds were more adversely affected since 

they could not afford to seek medical care or the victim might have 

been the only breadwinner in a large family. 

3.1.3. Perception of Safety 

There were contradicting reports regarding the perception of safety 

in Mogadishu’s Eastern Zone. There were concerns about 

extrajudicial killings and haphazard branding of the innocent 

bystanders or victims as insurgents along with petty street theft, 

extortion by militants and a failing security apparatus - all identified 

This apparent contradiction might allude to the high level of 

mistrust amongst the community and fear of recriminations 

mentioned earlier. Male and female respondents also mentioned 

these fairly high levels of safety at nearly equal rates (Fig 13). 

15 Traditional Elders, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 4 March 2014 

11

Figure 13: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (by 

gender) 

Figure 14: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (Year on 

year trend by gender) 

In terms of the change in levels of safety compared to the previous 

year, more than half (59%) of the respondents stated that despite 

the low levels of security, the situation had improved (Fig 14, 15). 

12

Figure 15: Respondents’ perception of safety in the area (year on 

year trend by locality) 

Participants recounted a lot of varied personal narrations of 

violence; however, they were in agreement that serious violent 

conflicts, the control of the city by opposing forces, killing of 

innocent people, and the soldiers who used to rob the civilians no 

longer existed 17 . 

Lack of full investigation of incidents and the tendency to blame 

every crime and incident in the city on Al-Shabaab without 

providing clear evidence and local militias who sometimes set-up 

checkpoints at night with the aim of extorting vehicles and 

commuters were security concerns raised by Traditional elders 

18 ; 

with one claiming that “men with government uniforms extorted 

commuters at night” 19. According to the elders’ group discussion 

participants the Government has [failed] to disarm clan militias. 

Although the security situation has apparently improved, according 

to the FGD participants some participants still considered 

Mogadishu as a non-liveable city “If there is a safe place outside 

Somalia that I could reach with my own feet I would not mind going 

there so that I can have peace of mind, I am tired of this prolonged 

and chronic fear” reported one women’s discussion participant 16. 





13

3.2. SECURITY PROVIDERS 

There have been numerous categories of security providers visibly 

operating in the various districts of Mogadishu’s Eastern Zone. 

There is a formal presence of the Somali National Army, the African 

Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Police. Informal 

security providers, such as traditional elder, play a role in providing 

protection to their clan members. 

Figure 16: Respondents’ awareness of police presence 

3.2.1. Level of Deployment 

Unfortunately, the presence of many categories of security 

providers has not translated into a corresponding increase in 

security provision for all members of the community. There was a 

police station in each district but most were in disrepair and barely 

functioning. More than half (57%) of the respondents in the 

household survey were unaware of the presence of police in their 

community (Fig 16). A further 6% were unsure, making the quota of 

those who were certain that there were police in their community 

36% (n=140). Of those who were aware of the presence of police 

within their community, 77% were aware of only one police station 

(Fig 17). 

Figure 17: Respondents’ estimation of the number of police 

stations 

14

The Karaan District Deputy Commissioner for Social Affairs stated 

that there is a need for a proper police station in the district as the 

current facilities have not been renovated in a long time and have 

only a single room that serves as a holding cell 20 . According to the 

Police Commissioner in Shibis District, not only is the number of 

police officers in his district insufficient, but some of them have 

health complications that require them to retire 21 . Sentiments 

regarding the insufficiency of police officers were also expressed in 

several focus group discussions along with observations on the 

numerous challenges facing the police such as low and delayed 

salaries, lack of sufficient equipment and training 22 . 

Figure 18: Respondents’ estimation of distance to police station 

It would seem that awareness of police presence is related to 

proximity to police stations; because it was observed that of the 140 

respondents of the household survey who were aware of police 

presence, 91% (n=127) reported that it takes them less than an hour 

to get to the closest station (Fig 18). Additionally, 77% of the 

respondents who had stated that they were aware of a police 

station in their district were aware of only one station (Fig 17).The 

Karaan District Police Commissioner highlighted that one police 

station was not enough to provide security to the district and 

recommended the establishment of police outposts in different 

district’s subdivisions 23 . 

3.2.2. Preference of the Security Providers 

Two thirds (66%) of the sampled population picked traditional 

elders as their most preferred security provider in terms of 

reporting civil matters. This was a clear majority as compared to 

those who named the local authority (13%, with the majority being 

male), police (7%) and religious leaders (5%) (Fig 19). 

20 Deputy District Commissioner: Social Affairs, Eastern Zone, Key Informant 

Interview, Kaaraan, 13 March 2014 

21 Police Commissioner, Shibis District, Key Informant Interview, Eastern 

Zone, 13 March 2014 

22 Religious Leaders, Focus Group Discussion, 4 March 2014 and Youth 

Group, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone , 3 March 2014 

23 Karaan District Police Commissioner, Key Informant Interview, Eastern 


15

Figure 19: Respondents’ preference of reporting civil matters: land 

disputes, divorce etc… (by gender) 

The same trend was exhibited with regard to the preference of the 

respondents in reporting petty crimes. Traditional elders led with 

more than half of the respondents (52%); followed by the local 

authority (17%), the police (14%) and the religious leaders (5%) (Fig 

20). 

Figure 21: Respondents’ preference of reporting on serious crimes: 

grave assaults, rape and murder (by gender) 

Figure 20: Respondents’ preference of reporting on petty crimes: 

robbery, household violence (by gender) 

Qualitative research participants presumed that police officers were 

not committed to their work. Police officers did not respond when 

they were called for help unless they were paid and this had 

discouraged the poor from using the police service unless the case 

was very serious 24 . 

Correlations can be surmised between the limited number of police 

officers, challenges facing the police and respondents’ perception of 

the police, and the preference of reporting crimes. Limited police 


16

stations, outposts, police officers and poor community-police 

relations were some of the most notable challenges facing the 

police according to the zone Police Commissioner 25 . 

Police preference slightly increased when reporting serious crimes; 

the police were mentioned by the second largest proportion of 

respondents (25%) though the quota of respondents naming 

traditional elders as the preferred security provider remained high 

(41%) (Fig 21). 

business group discussion participants claimed that police feared for 

their lives and were reluctant to face criminals 27 : “I witnessed an 

incident where perpetrators murdered someone and bystanders 

[including an armed police officer] ran for their lives” recalled one 

participant. 

Figure 22: Most trusted security provider in responding to crime 

(by gender) 

Survey findings had shown that crimes were not reported to 

religious leaders (Fig 19, 20, 21), and qualitative findings revealed 

that, although religious leaders were highly respected, their role in 

conflict resolution was not prominent. Moreover, the districts did 

not have registered Shari’ah offices 26 . 

3.2.3. Perception towards Security Providers 

The traditional elders were also clear favourites when the 

respondents were asked which of the security providers (formal and 

informal) they trusted the most to respond to crimes. More than a 

third (40%) of the sampled population named traditional elders (Fig 

22). 

Police insufficiency and poor working conditions are deemed to 

affect their performance (hence influencing respondents’ 

perception), there were reports that police officers in the district 

stations did not respond to crime and violence after 9:00 P.M – 

25 Zone Police Commissioner, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 23 

March 2014 

26 Religious leader, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 23 March 2014 

The most common reasons offered by those who trusted traditional 

elders most were that they were respected (46%) and easy to 

access (30%) (Fig 23). When the respondents’ low trust in police was 

investigated further, the Eastern Zone Police Commissioner stated 


17

that “massive arbitrary arrests have damaged citizens’ relations 

with the police” and recommended that police operations become 

more targeted 28 . 

Figure 23: Reason for choice of traditional elders as the most 

trusted informal security provider 

This suggests that the high levels of preference for traditional elders 

as informal security providers were informed more by the ease of 

access than by the community’s prejudice against the police. 

Many of the qualitative research participants sympathised with the 

Police and Somali National Army (SNA) claiming that the national 

security providers are not taken care of compared to their 

counterparts (AMISOM) 29 . The elders’ group discussion participants 

noted, “Somali security providers neither receive enough or regular 

salary nor medical care or compensation when they are injured or 

die in service 30 . 

Figure 24: Respondents’ level of trust in the formal security 

provider (Police) (by gender) 

Despite the low levels of preference, the formal security providers 

still scored generally well in terms of trust, with 80% of the 

respondents citing fairly high and very high levels of trust (Fig 24). 

28 Zone Police Commissioner, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 23 

March 2014 



18

A proportion of respondents reported that the performance of the 

police had actually improved compared to the previous year. Almost 

half (48%) of the sampled population acknowledged improvement 

with a further 40% stating that there had been no change (Fig 25). 

Figure 25: Respondents' perception of the performance of the 

police - yearly trend (by gender) 

sustainable over a long time, the funding could be diverted to build, 

train and pay the Somali National Army (SNA) 31 . 

A Women’s focus group discussion participant surmised that the 

“Somali army can chase after the enemy and deal with them, but 

the AMISOM officers just protect senior government officers and 

[occupy] the country’s most strategic areas such as the airport, 

seaports, military bases and schools. They are never serious about 

32 

their fight against Al-Shabaab” . 

There is an assumption with the presence of AMISOM, peace is 

gradually being restored to Mogadishu; however, many (not all) of 

the qualitative research participants disagreed - arguing that the 

mission has had a deleterious effect on the security situation: “the 

emergence of suicide attacks and other atrocities is new and did not 

33 

precede AMISOM” . 

Those who supported AMISOM argued that the mission is successful 

and claimed that the gradual restoration of peace to the country 

would not have existed without this mission: “When there is a 

strong wind, one needs protection and AMISOM offers protection 

34. 

against insecurity” said one participant 

3.2.4. Perception of AMISOM 

Researchers sought participants’ perception of the African Union 

Mission in Somalia (AMISOM); a proportion of the participants 

disparaged the mission. The reasons varied from the perceived huge 

sums spent on AMISOM operation that was not commensurate with 

performance, to the argument that since such operations are not 

One participant pointed out that if AMISOM withdraws from an 

35 

area, local residents move with AMISOM - though this indicates a 

lack of sustainability surrounding the security operations. 



33 Men’s Group, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 3 March 2014 



19

3.3. JUSTICE PROVIDERS 


There are courts in all three districts, although the Shibis District 

Court was not functional at the time of data collection 36 . Many of 

the residents in Shibis district used the service of the neighbouring 

Shangaani district in the central zone 37 district – reflected in Figure 

26 where no respondents in Shibis reported an awareness of a 

court. In all, only 35% of all sampled respondents (n=134) answered 

that they were aware of the presence of courts with the majority 

(93%) of those further stating that they were aware of only one 

court (Fig 27). 

courts also lacked facilities necessary for effective operations - such 

as vehicles and office equipment 41 . 

Figure 26: Respondents' awareness of courts 

Even in those districts where District Courts were present, it was 

observed that they were not functioning at full capacity, handling 

mostly civil matters - specifically family disputes 

38 . In addition, the 

courts did not have their own premises and were housed under 

their respective District Administrations’ offices 39 . There were no 

stand-alone courtrooms and trials were held in the same rooms 

used as offices by the judicial staff, or district conference halls 40 .The 

36 Deputy District Commissioner, Shibis District, Key Informant Interview, 

Eastern Zone, 13 March 2014 

37 

Deputy District Commissioner, Shangaani District, Key Informant 

Interview, Eastern Zone, 17 March 2014 

38 District Court Commissioner, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 16 

March 2014 

39 Traditional elder, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 16 March 2014 


March 2014 


March 2014 

20

Figure 27: Respondents’ estimation of the number of courts 

Figure 28: Walking distance to the court 

Of the 134 respondents who had indicated an awareness of the 

existence of courts in their respective districts, 75% stated that it 

would take them less than an hour to walk to the closest court (Fig 

28). Although courts were seemingly well distributed, survey 

respondents did not use their services - 93% of the respondents had 

not used a court in the last 12 months (Fig 29). 

3.3.2. Performance of the Justice Providers 

Many of the qualitative research participants reproached the formal 

justice system for incompetence and corruption. Additionally, the 

household survey data revealed a very low usage of formal justice 

providers (courts) for any issue of justice. 

21

Figure 29: Respondents’ usage of courts 

Figure 30: Respondents’ usage of courts (by gender) 

When the data on usage of courts was analysed along gender lines, 

no significant skew in the usage of courts was observed, meaning 

that as few women reported using courts for an issue of justice in 

the last year as men (Fig 30). 

The research revealed that simple cases were mostly taken to 

Traditional elders or any other perceived alternative justice provider 

to avoid costs (file opening fees, transport, lawyers fee) attached to 

the usage of the formal justice system 42 . Business group discussion 

participants argued that in the formal justice system, justice is for 

sale and decisions are awarded to those who can afford them 43 . 



A larger proportion of the respondents interviewed in the 

household survey (16%) had used traditional elders for an issue of 

justice in the past year (Fig 31).There were no significant gender 

differences in usage of traditional elders (Fig 32). Qualitative 

findings, however, revealed that traditional elders were mostly 

referred to in small-scale and less contentious disputes which 

needed mediation, but serious disputes, such as land disputes were 

demonstrably taken to the formal courts since these institutions 

possess the authority of enforcement. The chairperson of the 

Regional Court confirmed that most of the civil cases referred to the 

court had been related to land disputes “you can see a plot of land 

disputed by 5 people with different land ownership documents, 

22

there are also buildings with five or more disputants, moreover, 

there are houses taken by force which get special consideration in 

the court” 44 

Figure 32: Respondents’ usage of traditional elders (by gender) 

Figure 31: Respondents’ usage of traditional elders 

Figure 33: Respondents’ account of referral to the traditional 

elders (by gender) 

44 Regional Court Chairperson, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 16 

March 2014 

23

Most (80%), out of the 16% (48 out of 60 respondents) who 

reported having used traditional elders in the past year, stated that 

they had been referred by an elder or a family member (Fig 33). 

More than half (51%) of the respondents indicated that the cause of 

the dispute submitted to the traditional elders for adjudication had 

been household violence (Fig 34). During a Key Informant Interview, 

The District Court Commissioner also commented on household 

violence saying, “Poor living conditions and unemployment are 

contributing to the increase in family disputes” 45 . 

Respondents were asked what the issue they took to the elders was 

and not whether they were victims, male and female respondents 

reported household violence with almost identical frequency (Fig 

35); therefore this observation should not be used to infer 

victimisation rates. 

Figure 35: Respondents' account of issues taken to traditional 

elders (by gender) 

Figure 34: Respondents’ account of the issues taken to traditional 

elders 


March 2014 

24

Figure 36: Respondents’ account on issuance of judgments 

Figure 37: Respondents’ account on the enforcement of judgments 

Of those who had used traditional elders for the provision of justice 

in the past year, 82% went on to state that a judgment had been 

issued (Fig 36). A futher 96% of those who had received a judgment 

recalled that judgements had been enforced (Fig 37). 

As discussed above, most of the land disputes were referred or 

taken to the courts, however, some participants claimed that courts 

have failed to deliver justice on land disputes. According to a District 

Police Commissioner whose name is withheld 46 land dispute cases 

were charged without even visiting the disputed land or involving 

the right witnesses and local authorities in the trial process “the 

police in the district were asked to enforce a land-related court 

judgement… when we reached the land under dispute we found a 

large family living there, we requested them to vacate the land 

,however, they did not know that their land had been transferred to 

another owner… currently there are many land related judgements 

which we do not want to enforce because the judgement is 

46 He consented to be used his name the report, but researchers found the 

information sensitive and have chosen that he remains anonymous 

25

faulty.” 47 The Regional Court Chairperson conceded that there could 

be errors since all government institutions are still weak and lacking 

capacity 48 . A point was made by a religious leader that “effective 

justice provision is a precursor to the stabilisation of the country” 49 . 

Figure 38: Respondents’ usage of religious leaders (by gender) 

As mentioned above, the usage of religious leaders in Mogadishu’s 

Eastern Zone was reported to be very low - only 3% of the sampled 

respondents had used religious leaders for an issue of justice in the 

past 12 months (Fig 38). A key informant stated that religious 

leaders are not commonly used in the districts because, as 

mentioned before, there are no registered Shari’ah offices in 

50 

Mogadishu . 

3.3.3. Perception of Justice Providers 

47 Police Commissioner, Shibis District, Key Informant Interview, Eastern 


48 Regional Court Chairperson, Key Informant Interview, Eastern Zone, 16 

March 2014 



Traditional elders as informal justice providers continued to show 

predominance over other providers when the survey respondents 

were asked who they trust the most to solve cases. With 48% of the 

total sampled population naming traditional leaders, 30% naming 

religious leaders and only 14% naming the formal courts, it was 

clear that the informal justice providers in Mogadishu’s Eastern 

zone were more trusted than the formal justice system (Fig 39). 

26

Figure 39: Respondents’ trust of justice providers 

covertly involved in high profile cases and influence the decision of 

the court to the disadvantage of litigants without access to such 

connections 52 . Interestingly, even religious leaders stated that they 

trust traditional elders because of justice, honesty and lack of 

corruption and prejudice. 53 

Figure 40: Respondents’ trust of justice providers (by gender) 

The preference across the various justice providers was expressed 

at approximately equal rates for both male and female respondents, 

suggesting that gender considerations did not influence the 

preference of one justice provider over the other (Fig 40). 

It was revealed in qualitative interviews that most members of the 

community avoid the formal courts because they are costly and 

vulnerable to corruption and miscarriage of justice 51 . Particularly, 

traditional elders expressed the concern that prominent persons 

such as members of parliament, senior police officials, some 

traditional elders and military personnel often get overtly, or 


The household survey reflected those sentiments, showing that out 

of those who had said that they trust the traditional elders the 

most, more than half (51%) gave their reason as fair judgments (Fig 

41), again without any gender related distinctions. 


53 Religious Leaders, Focus Group Discussion, Eastern Zone, 4 March 2014 

27

Figure 41: Respondents’ reason of choice (by gender) 

Figure 42: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice 

system 

In sum, it was observed that the level of confidence in the formal 

justice system was generally low with a cumulative 62% of the 

entire sampled population stating that they were either fairly 

confident or not confident at all (Fig 42). Additionally, 37% of 

respondents identified no change in the performance of formal 

courts which was marginally greater than those who stated that 

there had been an improvement at 32% (Fig 43) 

28

Figure 43: Respondents' perception of the performance of the 

formal court (yearly trend0 

29

3.4. GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS 


The volatile security situation in Mogadishu’s Eastern Zone has 

hampered effective local governance and service provision. The 

findings revealed no evidence of the existence of local councils in 

Mogadishu districts as (91%) of the household survey respondents 

stated that they were not aware of the presence of a local council in 

their district (Fig 44). There were, however, District Administrations 

in each district headed by a District commissioner appointed by the 

Mayor and deputy Commissioners 54 . Those Administrations 

performed local services provision within the city, much like a local 

council would. Awareness of services provided by the district 

administration could be interpreted as awareness of its presence. 

Most of the respondents (81%) were aware of the services provided 

(Fig 45). Each of the districts in Mogadishu has several divisions 

(waax), each Waax is divided into sub-divisions (laan) and each 

Laan is split into neighbourhoods, with such a structure an effective 

district level governance system could be set in place had each 

(waax) been equally represented. 

Figure 45: Respondents’ awareness of the services provided by the 

district administrations (by gender) 

Figure 44: Respondents’ awareness of local council 


30

3.4.2. Performance of the Governance providers 

Figure 46: Respondents’ awareness of communication channels 

Provision of social services had stagnated since the collapse of the 

former regime; many of the public schools had been demolished 

and were out of service, while others had been rehabilitated by 

either local and/or international NGOs and were still under their 

control. 55 Recently, a handful of schools across the districts had 

been rehabilitated by the Aada-Skoolada “go to schools” project - a 

free universal primary education initiative run by the Ministry of 

Education that aimed to send 1 million children to school – though 

the progress of this project seemed to be very slow. 

More than half (58%) of the respondents who were aware of the 

existence of local administration were also aware of the existence 

of channels of communication between the community and their 

administrators (Fig 46). 

Equal quotas of men and women expressed awareness of the 

existence of channels of communication (Fig 47) - 7 of which had 

participated in local administration consultations representing (Fig 

48). 

55 Deputy District Commissioner, Kaaraan District, Key Informant Interview, 

Eastern Zone, 13 March 2014 

31

Figure 47: Respondents’ awareness of communication channels 

(by gender) 

Figure 48: Respondents’ participation in local government 

consultations 

Interestingly, none of the respondents from Yakshiid district, from 

where the largest sample of respondents had been drawn, had 

participated in local administration consultations in the past year 

(Fig 48). 

3.4.3. Perception of Governance Providers 

In spite of the low levels of awareness and interaction the majority 

of the respondents in Eastern Zone still believed in the importance 

of having elected representatives at the local administration level 

(Fig 49). 

32

Figure 49: Respondents’ perception towards the importance of 

elected representatives 

Figure 50: Respondents’ opinion about important services 

provided by the local council 

There were relatively few responses when the respondents were 

questioned as to what the most important service offered by the 

local administration was. This may point towards low levels of 

service delivery or low levels of information provided about the 

services offered. Security was nonetheless cited as the most 

important service provided by the local administration, having 

been mentioned 16 times (Fig 50). 

Conversely however, the response rate was much higher when 

respondents were asked about the most pressing local issues. 

Unemployment, poor education and poor health were the top 3 

most cited problems, being attributed to 296, 267 and 209 

responses respectively. Poor sanitation, bad health centres, lack of 

infrastructure, lack of water, weak economy and shortage of 

electricity supply were also frequently mentioned (Fig 51). 

33

Figure 51: Respondents’ opinions about the most pressing local issues 

Most of the research participants were not familiar with the 

services provided by the district administrations, and if they were, 

they expressed a level of discontent: education and, sanitation and 

health (WASH) services were the most desirable services in each of 

the districts in the Eastern zone 56 . Most of the schools and hospitals 

in the districts (barring a few exceptions) were privately owned and 

poor families did not have access to these services due to their 

limited resources. According to the Traditional elders’ discussion 

participants “poor parents cannot send their children to school and 

children become idle which is very risky”. 


34

4. CONCLUSION 

Though there has been a marked reduction in armed conflict in 

Mogadishu’s Eastern Zone, the state of security still remains 

volatile. There were reports indicating the proliferation of small 

arms and illegal operations carried out by unknown militia groups 

for the purposes of extortion. Petty theft and targeted killings were 

the most common security concerns put forward by the qualitative 

research participants. 

A largely ineffective security apparatus: lacking in facilities, 

equipment, resources and an effective coordination mechanism; 

only serves to exacerbate the volatile security problem. It was 

claimed that the police seldom respond to violent crimes. The 

presence of AMISOM troops did not effectively fill the security 

provision gap in the opinion of the research participants, perhaps 

because the participants were not well informed as to the extent of 

the mission’s mandate. AMISOM nonetheless was perceived to have 

had a deterrent effect on potential violent elements. 

The local administrations also suffer in terms of service delivery and 

outreach within the community. Most of the respondents were not 

aware that there is any form of local government and those who 

were, were not particularly knowledgeable about the sort of 

services provided. 

In sum, while there are indications that the holistic situation is 

improving in the districts there is still a long way to go in delivering 

adequate justice, security and governance services. There is a need 

for investment to strengthen the security apparatus, empowering 

the formal security and justice providers, as well as taking steps to 

tackle the proliferation of small arms. 

In addition to this, the justice system has suffered adversely from 

years of conflict and lacks the trust of the community. The courts 

have fallen into disrepair and are under-funded, and the judges fear 

that carrying out their mandate puts them in danger of reprisals. 

The void they leave is filled by traditional elders who, whilst 

managing to maintain some semblance of peace and order, are also 

accused by the police of interference and can be perceived to be 

undermining the formal justice system. 

35

5. ANNEXES 

Annex 5.1: Sample size 

z 2 

(P) (1-P) (f) 

e 

2 

Where: 

z= confidence interval (95%) 

P= P-Value which assumed some security correlation within the cluster (0.3) 

f= is the sample design effect (1.5) 

e= the margin of error to be attained (+ or – 5%) 

36

Annex 5.2: GLOSSARY OF TERMS 

Access to Justice 

Civil case 

Clan 

Conflict 

Criminal case 

District Safety Committee 

Enforcement 

Formal Justice System 

Gender 

Governance provider 

Informal Justice System 

Justice Provider 

Justice System 

People’s ability to solve disputes and reach adequate remedies for grievances, using formal or 

traditional justice systems. The justice process has qualitative dimensions, and it should be in 

accordance with human rights principles and standards. 

Non-criminal cases relating to civil wrongs and disputes between individuals, including generally 

property, business, personal domestic problems, divorces and such types where ones constitutional 

and personal rights are breached 

The clan is a system characterized by a chain of paternal ancestors reaching back to a perceived 

founding ancestor whose name all members of the clan share for identity 

State of disharmony between incompatible persons, ideas, or interests 

An action, suit, or cause instituted to punish an infraction of the criminal laws of a country 

A representative body comprised of a broad cross section of civil society that acts in an advisory 

capacity to the local government in issues of community security and safety 

Relates to the implementation of orders, decisions and settlements emerging from formal or informal 

adjudication. Enforcement bodies include police and prisons, and administrative bodies in particular 

cases. 

Traditional systems may also have specific mechanisms of enforcement. Enforcement systems are the 

key to ensuring accountability and minimize impunity, thus preventing further injustices. 

A codified system of laws and court proceedings enforced by recognized actors of lawyers, police and 

justice officials 

The formal justice system involves civil and criminal justice and includes formal state-based justice 

institutions and procedures, such as police, prosecution, courts (religious and secular) and custodial 

measures. 

"Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given 

society considers appropriate for men and women. 

Formal institutions or Individuals that act, process, or possess the authority of governing 

Dispute resolution mechanisms falling outside the scope of the formal justice system. The term 

informal justice system is used here to draw a distinction between state-administered formal justice 

systems and non-state administered informal justice systems. 

Formal or Informal Institutions or individuals that are responsible to provide fair and equitable 

treatment of all individuals under the law (customary, formal or Sharia) 

Includes formal justice institutions and procedures, such as police, prosecution, courts and prisons, as 

37

well as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), and other informal and traditional systems (e.g. a council 

of elders). 

The justice system includes coordination and other arrangements among its different components that 

influence overall outcomes on access to justice 

Land/water disputes A state of debate or quarrel between/among persons, groups or communities over the property, the 

use, etc. of plots or swathes of land and water points 

Local Authority 

Those invested with formal power, especially a government or body of government officials at district 

level 

Petty Crimes 

Criminal offense that is less serious than a serious crime and generally punishable by a monetary fine, 

forfeiture or a jail term of up to a year, or a combination of both. 

Security Provider 

Formal or informal Institutions or individuals that are responsible for the protection of persons, 

dwellings, communities or the nation from harm 

Serious Crimes 

Criminal offense that is more serious than a petty crime and which can be punished by one or more 

years in prison 

Violence 

The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, 

or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, 

death, psychological harm, or deprivation 

Xeer 

A customary law system that has evolved from a basis of clan relations, with some influence of Islamic 

law (Sharia), that employs mediation and negotiation through the use of traditional elders. 

Youth Men and Women between the age of 15 and 30 

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Eastern Zone DCSA

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