Blogging Somalia's Untold Stories with One Blog at a Time

The idea of 4.5 power sharing formula was the result of a Reconciliation Conference held in Djibouti in 2000, but what was meant to reconcile a society that suffered from years of conflict has only divided and disunited them in a manner that was completely deplorable. And since the 4.5 system was adopted, only two major clans (Hawiye and Darod) have been holding Somalia’s highest political ranks (The president and the prime minister). Even though it is not enshrined in the Provisional Constitution, the system became so embedded in the political system of the country and it is in full use now at the expense of large proportion of the population. Many believe that the system can fix Somalia’s 20-year tyrannical leadership of Mohamed Siad Barre. However, it is worth mentioning that the same system has excluded the other 2.5 clans (Dir, Digil/Milifle and minority clans) from running for the presidency. Even though Digil and Milifle didn’t run for the top two positions, they are...

Kenya has been more generous, more supportive and kinder to Somali people than any other country in the greater Horn of Africa region. It has hosted the largest Somali refugees in one of the world’s biggest refugee complex shortly after Somalia’s civil war broke out in 1991. Those who were once refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma are among today’s most successful persons in Kenya and even in other parts of the world. Just to give an example, Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim black congresswoman in the US was once a refugee in Dadaab for four years after fleeing Somalia’s conflict. Kenya and Somalia have enjoyed long neighborhood partnership bonded by brotherhood, shared values and of course shared borders between the two countries. Thousands of Somali nomads cross the border between Somalia and Kenya every day for businesses, trade and other work related purposes.   Somalis in Kenya  Currently an estimated number of 2.5 million Somalis live permanently or temporary in Keny...