Global InformationIsaaq genocide information
| Isaaq genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of Somaliland War of Independence | |
 Exhumed skeletal remains of victims of the Isaaq genocide | |
| Location | Somali Democratic Republic |
| Date | 1987 to 1989 |
| Target | Isaaq population |
Attack type | Genocidal massacre, state crime, mass murder, forced disappearance |
| Deaths | 50,000–100,000[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] High estimates range between 100,000 and 200,000[9][10][11][12][13][14] |
| Perpetrators | Somali Democratic Republic |
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The Isaaq genocide (Somali: Xasuuqii beesha Isaaq, Arabic: الإبادة الجماعية لقبيلة إسحاق),[15][16] also known as the Hargeisa holocaust,[16][17] was the systematic, state-sponsored genocide of Isaaq civilians between 1987 and 1989 by the Somali Democratic Republic, under the dictatorship of Siad Barre, during the Somaliland War of Independence.[18][19] The number of civilian deaths in this massacre is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000, according to various sources,[1][9][20] whilst local reports estimate the total civilian deaths to be upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians.[21] The genocide also included the levelling and complete destruction of the second and third largest cities in the Somali Republic, Hargeisa (which was 90 percent destroyed)[22] and Burao (70 percent destroyed), respectively,[23] and had caused up to 500,000[24][25] Somalis of the region, primarily of the Isaaq clan,[26] to flee their land and cross the border to Hartasheikh in Ethiopia as refugees in what was described as "one of the fastest and largest forced movements of people recorded in Africa",[24] which resulted in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp then (1988),[27] with another 400,000 being displaced.[28][29][30] The scale of destruction led to Hargeisa being known as the 'Dresden of Africa'.[24] The killings happened during the Somali Civil War and have been referred to as a "forgotten genocide".
In the countryside, the persecution of Isaaq included the creation of a mechanised section of the Somali Armed Forces dubbed as Dabar Goynta Isaaqa (The Isaaq Exterminators) consisting entirely of non-Isaaqs (mainly Ogaden);[31][32] this unit conducted a "systematic pattern of attacks against unarmed, civilian villages, watering points and grazing areas of northern Somalia (Somaliland), killing many of their residents and forcing survivors to flee for safety to remote areas". This resulted in entire villages being depopulated and towns getting plundered.[33][34] Rape was also used as a weapon against Isaaqs.[35] Human Rights Watch states that this unit, along with other branches of the military, were responsible for terrorising Isaaq nomads in the countryside.[36] Dabar Goynta Isaaqa would later turn into a system of governance where local officials would put the most hard-line policies into effect against the local Isaaq population.[37] The Somali government also planted one million land mines within Isaaq territory.[38]
In 2001, the United Nations commissioned an investigation on past human rights violations in Somalia,[18] specifically to find out if "crimes of international jurisdiction (i.e. war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide) had been perpetrated during the country's civil war". The investigation was commissioned jointly by the United Nations Coordination Unit (UNCU) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The investigation concluded with a report confirming the crime of genocide to have taken place against the Isaaqs in Somalia. United Nations investigator Chris Mburu stated:
Based on the totality of evidence collected in Somaliland and elsewhere both during and after his mission, the consultant firmly believes that the crime of genocide was conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somali Government against the Isaaq people of northern Somalia between 1987 and 1989.[39]
- ^ a b Peifer, Douglas C. (1 May 2009). Stopping Mass Killings in Africa: Genocide, Airpower, and Intervention. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4379-1281-4.
- ^ Totten, Samuel; Parsons, William S. (1 January 1995). Genocide in the Twentieth Century: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. Garland Pub. ISBN 978-0-8153-0309-1.
- ^ Cohen, Robin (2 November 1995). The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44405-7.
at a conservative estimate between 80,000 - 130,000 and .
- ^ Straus, Scott (24 March 2015). Making and Unmaking Nations: The Origins and Dynamics of Genocide in Contemporary Africa. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5567-4.
- ^ Gilbert, Jérémie (26 March 2014). Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-02016-2.
- ^ Nafziger (2002), War Hunger and Displacement, p.191, Oxford University Press
- ^ Geldenhuys (2009), Contested States in World Politics, Palgrave Macmillan
- ^ Jill, Rutter (1 June 2006). Refugee Children in the Uk. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). ISBN 978-0-335-21373-3.
- ^ a b Jones, Adam (2004). Genocide, war crimes and the West: history and complicity. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1-84277-191-4.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Culturewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Investigating genocide in Somaliland". Al Jazeera. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ Frushone, Joel (1 January 2001). Welcome Home to Nothing: Refugees Repatriate to a Forgotten Somaliland. U.S. Committee for Refugees. ISBN 978-0-936548-12-8.
- ^ Dumper, Michael; Stanleyc, Bruce E. (1 January 2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-919-5.
- ^ "SOMALIA 1988–1989". Combat Genocide.
- ^ Jacobs, Steven Leonard (2023). "The Religion–Genocide Nexus". In Kiernan, Ben; Lemos, T.M.; Taylor, Tristan S. (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Genocide. Vol. 1: Genocide in the Ancient, Medieval and Premodern Worlds. Cambridge University Press. pp. 86–102. doi:10.1017/9781108655989.005. ISBN 978-1-108-65598-9.
- ^ a b Einashe, Ismail; Kennard, Matt (22 October 2018). "In the Valley of Death: Somaliland's Forgotten Genocide". The Nation. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ Ingiriis, Mohamed Haji (2 July 2016). ""We Swallowed the State as the State Swallowed Us": The Genesis, Genealogies, and Geographies of Genocides in Somalia". African Security. 9 (3): 237–258. doi:10.1080/19392206.2016.1208475. ISSN 1939-2206. S2CID 148145948.
- ^ a b Mburu, Chris; Rights, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human; Office, United Nations Development Programme Somalia Country (1 January 2002). Past human rights abuses in Somalia: report of a preliminary study conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia). s.n.
- ^ Kapteijns, Lidwien (18 December 2012). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0758-3.
- ^ Straus, Scott (24 March 2015). Making and Unmaking Nations: The Origins and Dynamics of Genocide in Contemporary Africa. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5567-4.
- ^ "Investigating genocide in Somaliland". Archived from the original on 20 May 2017.
- ^ Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership (PDF). International Crisis Group. 2006. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:21was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Harper, Mary (9 February 2012). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78032-105-9.
- ^ Press, Robert M. (1 January 1999). The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1704-4.
- ^ "Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics" (PDF): 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Lindley, Anna (15 January 2013). The Early Morning Phonecall: Somali Refugees' Remittances. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78238-328-4.
- ^ Gajraj, Priya (2005). Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics (PDF). World Bank. p. 10.
- ^ Law, Ian (1 January 2010). Racism and Ethnicity: Global Debates, Dilemmas, Directions. Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-5912-7.
- ^ "Africa Watch". Volume 5: 4. 1993.
- ^ Bahcheli, Tozun; Bartmann, Barry; Srebrnik, Henry (9 September 2004). De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-77120-1. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ Ahmed, Ismail I.; Green, Reginald Herbold (1999). "The Heritage of War and State Collapse in Somalia and Somaliland: Local-Level Effects, External Interventions and Reconstruction". Third World Quarterly. 20 (1): 113–127. doi:10.1080/01436599913947. ISSN 0143-6597. JSTOR 3993185.
- ^ Conference, European Association of Somali Studies (1993). First Conference, 23rd-25th September 1993. European Association of Somali Studies. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ Shultz, Richard H.; Dew, Andrea J. (2009). Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12983-1. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ Bahcheli, Tozun; Bartmann, Barry; Srebrnik, Henry (9 September 2004). De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-77120-1. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ Somalia: A Government at War with its Own People. Archived 7 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine Human Rights Watch, 1990, p.89.
- ^ Somalia: A Government at War with its Own People. Archived 7 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine Human Rights Watch, 1990, p.115
- ^ Bahcheli, Tozun; Bartmann, Barry; Srebrnik, Henry (9 September 2004). De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-77120-1. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ Mburu, Chris; Rights, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human; Office, United Nations Development Programme Somalia Country (1 January 2002). Past human rights abuses in Somalia: report of a preliminary study conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia). s.n.