BAIDOA DISTRICT CONFLICT AND SECURITY ASSESSMENTocvp.org/docs/2015/Wave5/Baidoa DCSA 2015.pdf · 2015-09-06 · DCSA District Conflict and Security Assessment DFID ... Respondents

District Conflict and Security Assessment

Report

BAIDOA DISTRICT

JULY 2015

2015

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Ahmed Musa (Lead Researcher, OCVP)

Ayan Yusuf (Researcher, OCVP)

Akusua De Giuli (Research Intern, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po)

Omar Abshir (Researcher, OCVP)

Kenneth Mutinda (Researcher)

Mustafa Ibrahim (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: [email protected]

Publications of OCVP can be obtained from our offices in Hargeisa, Somaliland, or could be downloaded from

our website www.ocvp.org

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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 the financial support needed to undertake this survey through the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) in Somalia.

Finally, we are grateful to the local authorities in Baidoa District for giving us the permission to conduct this

assessment in the district.

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ABBREVIATIONS

ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution

AMISOM African Mission In Somalia

DCSA District Conflict and Security Assessment

DFID Department for International Development

DDR Disarmament and Demobilisation Reform

FGS Federal Government of Somalia

FGDs Focus Group Discussions

IDPs Internally Displaced Persons

KIIs Key Informant Interviews

NISA National Intelligence Security Agency

OCVP Observatory of Conflict and Violence Prevention

ODK Open Data Kit

SNA Somali National Army

SRS Systematic Random Sampling

TFG Transitional Federal Government

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT _____________________________________________________________ i

ABBREVIATIONS __________________________________________________________________ ii

CONTENTS ______________________________________________________________________ iii

LIST OF FIGURES __________________________________________________________________ v

LIST OF TABLES __________________________________________________________________ vii

Map of Study Area ______________________________________________________________ viii

DISTRICT PROFILE ________________________________________________________________ ix

SCOPE __________________________________________________________________________ x

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ____________________________________________________________ xi

Security Providers _____________________________________________________________________ xi

Justice Providers ______________________________________________________________________ xi

Governance Providers _________________________________________________________________ xi

Conflict and Violence __________________________________________________________________ xii

1. METHODOLOGY ______________________________________________________________ 1

1.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________________ 1

1.2 Sampling Methodology ___________________________________________________________ 1

1.3 Household Survey _______________________________________________________________ 1

1.4 Focus Group Discussions__________________________________________________________ 2

1.5 Key Informant Interviews _________________________________________________________ 2

2. PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS ______________________________________________________ 3

3. SECURITY, JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS __________________________________ 5

3.1 SECURITY PROVIDERS ____________________________________________________________ 5 3.1.1 Level of Deployment ____________________________________________________________________ 5 3.1.2 Preference of security providers ___________________________________________________________ 7 3.1.3 Police Response ________________________________________________________________________ 9 3.1.4 Perception of security providers __________________________________________________________ 10 3.1.5 Challenges facing the police _____________________________________________________________ 13

3.2 JUSTICE PROVIDERS ____________________________________________________________ 14 3.2.1. Level of deployment _____________________________________________________________________ 14 3.2.2. Usage of the Justice Providers _____________________________________________________________ 16 3.2.3. Perception of the Justice Providers _________________________________________________________ 17

3.3 GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS _______________________________________________________ 22 3.3.1. Performance of the Local Council _______________________________________________________ 23 3.3.2. Pressing Community Needs ____________________________________________________________ 24 3.3.3. Perception of the Local Council _________________________________________________________ 28

4. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE ______________________________________________________ 31

4.1. Experience of Conflict and Violence ________________________________________________ 31

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4.2. Dynamics of Conflict and Violence _________________________________________________ 33 4.2.1. Conflict Resolution ______________________________________________________________________ 36

4.3. Perception of safety ____________________________________________________________ 36

5. CONCLUSION ________________________________________________________________ 39

6. ANNEXES ___________________________________________________________________ 41

6.1. Sample Size Formula ____________________________________________________________ 41

6.2 Glossary of Terms ______________________________________________________________ 42

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Gender distribution of respondents ..................................................................................................... 3

Figure 2: Age distribution of respondents by gender .......................................................................................... 3

Figure 3: Marital status of the respondents ........................................................................................................ 3

Figure 4: Respondents' education levels ............................................................................................................. 4

Figure 5: Respondents' education levels by gender ............................................................................................ 4

Figure 6: Respondents' awareness of police presence ....................................................................................... 5

Figure 7: Respondents’ awareness of police presence by gender ...................................................................... 5

Figure 8: Respondents’ awareness of police presence by subdivision ............................................................... 6

Figure 9: Respondents’ estimation of the number of police stations ................................................................. 6

Figure 10: Respondents’ estimation of distance to the nearest police station .................................................. 6

Figure 11: Respondents’ estimation of distance to the nearest police station by subdivision ........................... 7

Figure 12: Reporting preference - civil matters .................................................................................................. 7

Figure 13: Reporting preference - civil matters by gender ................................................................................. 8

Figure 14: Reporting preference - petty crimes .................................................................................................. 8

Figure 15: Reporting preference - petty crimes by gender ................................................................................. 8

Figure 16: Reporting preference - serious crimes ............................................................................................... 9

Figure 17: Reporting preference - serious crimes by gender .............................................................................. 9

Figure 18: Most trusted security provider for responding to crime and violence ............................................ 10

Figure 19: Most trusted security provider- crime and violence by gender ....................................................... 10

Figure 20: Respondents’ level of trust towards police in responding to crime and violence ........................... 11

Figure 21: Respondents’ level of trust towards police in responding to crime by gender ............................... 11

Figure 22: Perception of the performance of the police - yearly trend ............................................................ 12

Figure 23: Perception of the performance of the police by gender - yearly trend ........................................... 12

Figure 24: Perception of the performance of the police by subdivision - yearly trend .................................... 12

Figure 25: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts ........................................................................ 14

Figure 26: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts by gender ....................................................... 14

Figure 27: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts by subdivision ................................................ 15

Figure 28: Respondents' awareness of the number of courts .......................................................................... 15

Figure 29: Respondents' estimation of the distance to the court ..................................................................... 15

Figure 30: Respondents' estimation to the distance of the court, by subdivision ............................................ 15

Figure 31: Usage of justice providers ................................................................................................................ 16

Figure 32: Usage of justice providers, by gender .............................................................................................. 16

Figure 33: Issuance of judgments ...................................................................................................................... 17

Figure 34: Enforcement of judgments ............................................................................................................... 17

Figure 35: Respondents' choice of must trusted justice provider ..................................................................... 18

Figure 36: Respondents' choice of most trusted justice provider by gender ................................................... 18

Figure 37: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice system ....................................................... 19

Figure 38: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice system by gender ...................................... 19

Figure 39: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend .............................................................. 19

Figure 40: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend, by subdivision ..................................... 20

Figure 41: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend by gender ............................................. 20

Figure 42: Respondents' awareness of the presence of a local council ............................................................ 22

Figure 43: Respondents' awareness of Local Council, by gender ..................................................................... 22

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Figure 44: Respondents’ awareness of Local Council, by subdivision .............................................................. 23

Figure 45: Respondents’ awareness of services provided by the local council ............................................... 24

Figure 46: Pressing Community Needs .............................................................................................................. 24

Figure 47: Respondents' awareness of channels of communication ................................................................ 26

Figure 48: Respondents' awareness of channels of communication by subdivision ........................................ 26

Figure 49: Respondents' participation in local governance consultations (last 12 months)............................ 26

Figure 50: Respondents' participation in local governance consultations by subdivision (last 12 months) ..... 26

Figure 51: Frequency of participation in local governance consultations (last 12 months) ............................. 27

Figure 52: Respondents' opinions regarding the importance of elected representatives ................................ 27

Figure 53: Respondents opinion regarding the importance of elected representatives by gender ................. 28

Figure 54: Respondents' level of confidence in Local council ........................................................................... 29

Figure 55: Respondents' level of confidence in the local council by gender .................................................... 29

Figure 56: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend ........................ 29

Figure 57: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend by gender ...... 30

Figure 58: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend by subdivision 30

Figure 59: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups ............................................................. 31

Figure 60: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups by gender ........................................... 31

Figure 61: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups by subdivision ..................................... 32

Figure 62: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups ................................................................. 32

Figure 63: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups by gender ................................................ 32

Figure 64: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups by subdivision ......................................... 32

Figure 65: Number of conflicts witnessed (last 12 months).............................................................................. 33

Figure 66: Number of conflicts leading to violence ........................................................................................... 33

Figure 67: Causes of conflict within the last 12 months ................................................................................... 33

Figure 68: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead ................................................... 35

Figure 69: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead by gender .................................. 35

Figure 70: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead by subdivision ........................... 36

Figure 71: Perception of safety ......................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 72: Perception of safety by gender ........................................................................................................ 37

Figure 73: Perception of safety by subdivision .................................................................................................. 37

Figure 74: Perception of safety -yearly trend .................................................................................................... 38

Figure 75: Perception of safety by gender-yearly trend ................................................................................... 38

Figure 76: Perception of safety by subdivision-yearly trend ............................................................................. 38

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Number of male and female respondents within the subdivisions........................................................ 2

Table 2: Distribution of focus group participants by gender................................................................................ 2

Table 3: Key Informant Interview participants ..................................................................................................... 2

Table 4: Respondents' reasons of choice of most trusted security provider ..................................................... 11

Table 5: Issues referred to justice providers ...................................................................................................... 17

Table 6: Reasons for trust of justice providers ................................................................................................... 18

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Map of Study Area

Source: UN OCHA 2012

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DISTRICT PROFILE

Baidoa, also known as “Baidoa Janaay” was established in 1913. It is situated approximately 256 kilometres

northwest of Mogadishu. Baidoa is the capital of the Bay region, which shares borders with the Gedo, Bakol,

Lower Shabelle and Middle Jubba regions of Somalia. The Baidoa district is home to almost 230 000 people1

of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The city was strongly affected by the Civil War in the early 1990s.

It was attacked and occupied by the United Somali Congress in 1995, and then progressively transitioned under

the control of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army and has been increasingly stabilizing in the following years.

The city served as the nation’s capital city for a short period of time in 2005 when it was the seat of the

Transitional Federal Government (TFG). In January 2009, Al-Shabaab seized control of the city, leading to the

removal of the TFG. In February 2012, Ethiopian troops and the TFG recaptured the town and in May 2012,

the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops replaced the Ethiopian troops.

Baidoa has four main subdivisions: Isha, Bardale, Horseed and Hawl-Wadaag. In 2014 the city became the

capital of the South-western state of Somalia, expected to become a Federal Member State. The population

is mainly comprised of persons from the Digil and Mirifle (Rahanweyn) tribes, which speak Maay-a language

which varies significantly from standard Somali.

1 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). "Regions, districts, and their populations: Somalia 2005 (draft)." UNOCHA. https://docs.unocha.org/sites/dms/Somalia/UNDP-POP-RURAL-URBAN%202005.pdf.

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SCOPE

The District Conflict and Security Assessment is designed to gather people’s perceptions regarding service

providers and accessibility and effectiveness of the services they provide. Information is gathered according

to four progress indicators relating to service provision: justice, governance, security and conflict. While a

district may contain a major urban settlement (main town) and a number of smaller surrounding villages, it is

the unfortunate reality that the type of public services this assessment is aiming to measure are concentrated

primarily within the main town of the district, while at the village level they are either inadequate or

completely absent. Keeping this in mind this assessment was designed and carried out in the major urban

settlement of the district; the Baidoa town.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Continual assessment of issues directly affecting the community’s safety and security is critical for effective

evidence – based programming, informed decision making and measuring the impact of related programmatic

interventions. It enables a better understanding of what works and does not work at the community level.

With this in mind, the 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 Baidoa District. The assessment was conducted from the 21st-27th May 2015. Key Research findings are

presented below.

Security Providers

The police were identified as the most trusted security provider, although informal providers such as

traditional elders and religious leaders were also widely perceived as legitimate, especially for dealing with

cases such as civil matters or petty crimes. The consulted population reported a high level of awareness of

police presence in the territory, and confirmed their relative proximity to police stations, with the solid

majority (86%) of survey respondents declaring they resided less than forty minutes away from the closest

station. Easy accessibility was one of the main reasons mentioned by respondents for their choice of the police

as the preferred security provider. Although the majority of survey respondents (52%) demonstrated their

satisfaction with the police by declaring that they held some degree of trust in the institution, participants also

discussed several challenges that the police faced in providing security. These included perceived corruption

of officials, poor logistics and lack of resources (including means of transportation), little coordination with

other security providers, and low salaries, which contributed to limiting the involvement of well-trained and

qualified staff. Possibly due to such challenges undermining police action, only one-quarter of survey

respondents (26%) reported having perceived an improvement in the performance of the police in the year

leading up to the assessment.

Justice Providers

Participants in the assessment reported high awareness of the presence of the court, with over three-quarters

of survey respondents (77%) reporting that they were familiar with the court operating in the district.

Respondents, however, identified several factors which they believed undermined the efficiency of the court.

Allegations of corruption were the main challenge, resulting in the belief that justice delivery was contingent

on the disputants’ capacity to bribe judicial staff. Only a minority (30%) of the quantitative survey sample

reported some degree of confidence in the formal justice system, and an even smaller portion (10%) reported

that there had been an improvement in the court’s performance over the year prior to the assessment.

Dissatisfaction with the formal justice system was reflected in the participants’ choice to rely on the informal

justice system, consulting traditional elders and religious leaders rather than the courts for cases of different

types, including instances of business disputes, robberies, household violence and assault.

Governance Providers

The majority of respondents were aware of the existence of the Local Council, but only a minimal fraction

were familiar with the channels of communication in place between the local authority and the population.

Moreover, very few respondents reported having made use of such channels during the 12-month period prior

to the assessment. With regard to the delivery of services, Baidoa’ s mayor discussed the local administration’s

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involvement in several efforts to ensure increased security, better sanitation, improved town beautification

and to facilitate the registration of households to guarantee better service provision. When asked to illustrate

the delivery of services by the local council, the provision of security was most frequently cited. Substantial

portions of participants in both quantitative and qualitative data collection, however, reported not being

aware of any service being provided. The findings also indicate that the population failed to detect any major

improvement in the local administration’s performance over the year prior to the assessment.

Conflict and Violence

The majority of participants claimed that they had not witnessed any clan or group conflict over the year prior

to the assessment. Nonetheless, reports of instances of violence, perpetrated by armed groups, clan militia

and especially Al-Shabaab were frequent among the participants in the qualitative research. Such armed

groups were responsible for carrying out armed robberies, illegal roadblocks and other crimes, fundamentally

undermining the area’s security. Participants in the assessment also identified land disputes as a fundamental

cause of conflict and, potentially, violence. A weak land management regime and a justice system facing

allegations of rampant corruption were said to increase the likelihood of land disputes and the consequent

violence they portend. Family disputes, revenge and crime were additional factors that participants regarded

as potentially leading to conflict or violence. Despite providing detailed accounts of threats to their physical

integrity, only a minority of survey participants regarded their district as ‘unsafe’, and about one-third of the

sample also claimed that the situation had improved over the 12-month period prior to the assessment.

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1. METHODOLOGY

1.1 Overview

As part of its continual assessment of issues directly

affecting community security and safety, OCVP

conducted an extensive collection of primary data in

the BAIDOA District - the capital of the Bay region of

Somalia.

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of

the thematic areas under investigation, a mixed-

method approach was employed to allow the

research team to triangulate information uncovered

in both the data collection and subsequent analysis

phase. The household survey aimed at obtaining a

representative picture of the target populations’

perceptions regarding the thematic areas under

exploration. Focus Group Discussions and Key

Informant Interviews were used to probe deeper

into, and cross-validate issues pertaining to these

areas.

The quantitative data was analysed by the OCVP

Research and Analysis team using the Statistical

Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22, after it

had been collected using smart tablets that were

running ODK Collect; an open source mobile data

collection tool. The qualitative data was subjected to

thematic analysis, using a largely deductive approach

(qualitative research being a smaller component of

the overall study). The main themes of coding were

developed before the mission, in line with the

questions, but further coding was done during

analysis.

1.2 Sampling Methodology

A district household estimation provided by the local

municipality enabled the application of a sampling

formula2 to determine a representative sample size

for the district. The study took into account certain

statistical parameters such as the level of confidence

2 See Annex 6.1

desired (95%), sample design effect (1.5), margin of

error (+ or – 9%) and the assumption that some

security correlations of (0.3) existed within the sub-

divisions.

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

correlation above a random normal distribution of

0.5 within the district clusters (subdivision). This is a

reasonable assumption based on the topic of the

survey as respondents within the districts are likely

to exhibit a correlational relationship between their

perceptions and the surrounding security

environment. This is further backed by OCVP’s past

experience in which individuals from the same area

tend to exhibit similar perceptions on security,

justice, governance and conflict and violence.

The calculation detailed above resulted in a sample

size of 240 households.

1.3 Household Survey

A face-to-face quantitative survey was conducted in

which questions relating to personal demographics,

security, justice, governance, and conflict and

violence were asked of respondents from randomly

selected households. OCVP’s two trained data

enumerators and two local supporters (with local

acquaintances and knowledge on borders between

subdivisions) under the supervision of an OCVP

supervisor, conducted 240 household interviews

with respondents in Hawl-wadaag, Isha, Bardale,

Horseed and IDPs Sub-divisions (Table 1), from 21st

to 27th May 2015.

OCVP employed a modified Systematic Random

Sampling (SRS) approach where enumerators

randomly selected the 4th household after a random

start point and interviewed one respondent above

18 years old in every selected household.

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Table 1: Number of male and female respondents within the subdivisions

Area/Subdivision

Gender (Number of

respondents) Total

Male Female

Bardale 30 30 60

Horseed 14 22 36

Isha 33 27 60

Hawl-wadaag 29 31 60

IDPs 17 7 24

Total sample 123 117 240

1.4 Focus Group Discussions

The second research tool utilised 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. FGDs were conducted on the

23rd-25th May at Bay Hotel (see breakdown in Table

2). Each discussion group lasted for about an hour.

A total of six groups were represented in the FGDs: women; youth; elders and religious leaders; informal justice providers; governance providers (formal); and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Each group consisted of 10 participants. A local

organiser assisted in the recruitment of the

participants based on clan-lines, geographic

coverage, social class, gender and age (as well as

profession in the case of justice and governance

providers).

An OCVP researcher moderated the discussions with

the assistance of a note taker. Digital recorders were

used to record the discussions only after obtaining

the participants’ consent. Following verbatim

transcription, the data was cleaned, organised and

finally, further coding was done during the analysis

phase.

Table 2: Distribution of focus group participants by gender

Focus Group Gender

Total Male Female

Women - 10 10

Elders/Religious Leaders 10 - 10

Youth 5 5 10

Justice Providers 10 - 10

Governance Providers 5 5 10

IDPs 2 8 10

Total 32 28 60

1.5 Key Informant Interviews

The third method utilised for data collection was

personal interviews with key informants who

possessed experiential knowledge on 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 24th to 26th May

2015 at Bay Hotel. Each interview lasted for about

half an hour. Five (5) key informants were

interviewed, including: the Police Commissioner, a

Religious Leader, a Traditional Elder, the Mayor, and

a Business Person.

A local organiser assisted in the scheduling of the

interviews, which were then conducted by OCVP

researchers. Interviews began with questions that

were tailored to the interviewee and then generally

cut across the thematic areas of governance, justice,

security, and conflict and violence.

Table 3: Key Informant Interview participants

Key Informant Gender

Male Female

Police Commissioner 1 -

Religious Leader 1 -

Traditional Elder 1 -

Business Person 1 -

Mayor 1 -

Total 5 -

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2. PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

The household survey sample comprised 51% males

and 49% females (Fig. 1). A gender balance had been

emphasised to allow a clear depiction of the

differences in experience, views and insights

between the two genders in relation to the areas that

were assessed.

Figure 1: Gender distribution of respondents

Over three quarters of the sampled respondents

(77%) were aged between 20 and 49 years old, with

23% of respondents falling in the 20-29 year age

group, 26% in the 30-39 year age group and 28%

between the ages of 40-49 years. Respondents in the

50-59 year age bracket and those 60 years and above

represented 12% and 10% of the sample

respectively, whereas the least represented group

was that of those aged under 20 years, which made

up only 1% of the sample (Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Age distribution of respondents by gender

About three-quarters of respondents (73%) were

married, followed by the single (11%) and the

widowed (9%). Divorced respondents were the least

represented, constituting 7% of the sample (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: Marital status of the respondents

With regard to the level of education received by the

respondents, one-third (33%) had attended Quranic

Madarasa and over one-quarter (29%) had never

attended school. Approximately 2% of the sample

had been self-schooled, and about three in ten

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respondents had been formally schooled to either

the primary, intermediate or secondary level (10%,

10% and 11% respectively). A minor portion (5%) of

the sample had been educated to the tertiary level

(Fig. 4).

Figure 4: Respondents' education levels

The distribution of education along gender lines

highlights some differences in the educational levels

of the male and female components of the sample.

Females were almost twice as likely to have never

been educated (38% of women, as opposed to 21%

of men), whereas males were over four times more

likely to have attained secondary schooling (18% of

men as opposed to 4% of women). Males were also

more likely to have been educated to tertiary level.

Comparable portions of the female and male

respondents were represented for all other levels of

education (Fig. 5).

Figure 5: Respondents' education levels by gender

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3. SECURITY, JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS

3.1 SECURITY PROVIDERS

At the time of the data collection, the district of

Baidoa had not witnessed any major destabilising

security incidents for twelve months. On the other

hand, the security providers (in particular the

national army and African Mission in Somalia

(AMISOM)) were engaged in a protracted fight

against terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab who still

posed a threat to the region.3

3.1.1 Level of Deployment

The Police, Somali National Army (SNA), National

Intelligence Security Agency (NISA), AMISOM and

neighbourhood watch (madani) were, with different

capacities and mandates, all responsible for the

provision of security. The security providers had

different lines of communication and authority: the

Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), AMISOM and

the newly established interim South West

Administration were the authorities that different

formal security providers belonged to. There were,

however, reports of poor co-ordination and

collaboration between and among these entities.

With regard to the presence of the police, the vast

majority of respondents (89%) were aware of their

presence in the district. A minor portion of

respondents (5%) were not aware of its presence,

and a group of comparable size (6%) were uncertain

as to whether or not the police were present, as

shown in Figure 6.

3 Police Commissioner, Key Informant Interview, 25th May 2015

Figure 6: Respondents' awareness of police presence

Along gender lines, men were slightly more aware of

police presence than women, with 93% of the male

respondents confirming their awareness compared

with 85% of female respondents. Those who were

not aware of police presence made up comparable

portions of 4% and 5% of the female and male

respondents respectively, but women were more

likely not to express a clear opinion on the issue: one

in ten women (11%) reported not knowing, whereas

only 2% of the men did so (Fig. 7).

Figure 7: Respondents’ awareness of police presence by gender

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Within subdivisions, respondents from Horseed and

from the IDP community were least aware of police

presence (75% and 79% respectively). These two

groups featured the highest proportion of

respondents to have claimed outright that there

were no police or to have been uncertain as to police

presence in the district - (25% of respondents from

Horseed and 21% among the IDPs). More than 90%

of respondents in each of the other subdivisions

acknowledged police presence. See Fig. 8.

Figure 8: Respondents’ awareness of police presence by subdivision

Among those who were aware of police presence,

the majority (51%) correctly estimated the presence

of two police stations. However, approximately one-

third of the respondents (32%) believed the number

of police stations amounted to three. Smaller

portions of the relevant sample believed that the

district featured one (9%) or four (3%) police

stations, or stated that they did not know (4%). See

Fig. 9.

Figure 9: Respondents’ estimation of the number of police stations

Of those who were aware of the presence of the

police in the district, 44% reported that they could

reach the closest police station in less than 20

minutes, and 42% stated it would take them

between 20 and 40 minutes from their area of

residence. Almost one in every ten respondents (8%)

reported residing farther away, and needing

between 41 minutes and one hour to reach the

station. Only 1% of respondents claimed it would

take them over an hour to reach the police, and the

remaining 6% stated they did not know (Fig. 10).

Figure 10: Respondents’ estimation of distance to the nearest police station

Among those who were aware of the police,

residents of the Horseed subdivision, followed by

those from the IDPs and the Hawl wadaag

subdivision, reported being the closest to police

stations, with the majority of respondents from

these areas (63%, 58% and 53% respectively)

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claiming it would take them less than 20 minutes to

reach a police station. Between one-third and one-

half of respondents from each subdivision stated

that they live between 20 and 40 minutes away from

a police station. Bardale had the highest portion of

respondents who estimated that they live farther

away from a police station, with almost two in ten

(18%) respondents declaring it would take them

between 41 minutes and one hour to reach the

closest police station (Fig. 11).

Figure 11: Respondents’ estimation of distance to the nearest police station by subdivision

3.1.2 Preference of security providers

Although participants expressed several criticisms of

the police work in the district, the police were still

regarded as a fundamental security provider by a

large portion of participants in the survey.

Respondents also regarded traditional elders as

legitimate security providers, and most respondents

reported referring cases to either of the two,

according to their nature.

3.1.2.1. Civil cases

Respondents were slightly more likely to report civil

cases, including trespass, family disputes and

business disputes to traditional elders than to the

police, with 36% of respondents claiming they would

report such cases to the traditional elders, whereas

4 Governance Providers, Focus Group discussion, 23rd May 2015

31% would prefer referring such cases to the police

(Fig. 12).

The time it took for one security provider to deal with

cases reported to them was one of the factors which

influenced the reporting preference. For this reason

civil cases were likely to be reported to the

traditional elders, according to the governance

providers:

Cases like family disputes and issues related to land

disputes and properties are better dealt with by

traditional elders, because they are the ones who can

better mediate and solve cases within limited time.4

The perception of security providers’ impartiality

also potentially influenced the reporting preference:

Civil disputes or civil matters: such as business or family

disputes need fairness and can be solved by the people by

reporting them to the sub village committee or the clan.5

Figure 12: Reporting preference - civil matters

The disaggregation of data along gender lines

highlights that women were more likely than men to

regard religious leaders as their preferred security

providers when dealing with civil matters, with 18%

of the female respondents stating a preference for

them to other providers, as opposed to only 7% of

the male respondents. Minor differences were

5 Women, Focus Group Discussions, 24th May 2015

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2015

present in the choice of other providers, with women

being slightly less likely than men to choose to report

civil matters to the police or traditional leaders (Fig.

13).

Figure 13: Reporting preference - civil matters by gender

3.1.2.2. Petty crimes

In instances of petty crimes such as theft and

household violence, the police were the preferred

security provider, with 37% of respondents choosing

them over other options. Traditional elders were still

regarded by many as a legitimate entity for dealing

with such types of cases, and one third of the sample

(33%) reported that they would involve them when

facing matters pertaining to petty crime (Fig. 13).

About one in every ten respondents would each opt

for local security guards and religious leaders as the

security providers to deal with cases of this kind (10%

and 9% respectively). Another 4% indicated that they

would report to ‘other’ entities including NISA, their

families, their neighbours, or none of those

mentioned.

Figure 14: Reporting preference - petty crimes

Both males and females indicated similar

preferences with respect to their choice of security

providers for reporting petty crimes. The police,

followed by traditional elders, was the leading choice

for both, with the majority of men and women

indicating that that they would prefer to report petty

crimes to either of these two entities (Fig. 15).

Figure 15: Reporting preference - petty crimes by gender

3.1.2.3. Serious crimes

In instances of serious crimes such as grave assault,

rape, or murder, almost one-half (49%) of the sample

directed their preference towards the police as the

legitimate security provider. Over one-quarter (26%)

of participants expressed their preference for

involving traditional elders to deal with serious

crimes, and about one in ten respondents would

have referred the case to either religious leaders or

to the courts (9% each). See Fig. 16.

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Figure 16: Reporting preference - serious crimes

There was little variation in respondents’ choice of

preferred security provider for reporting serious

crimes along gender lines. The police were most

frequently identified by both male and female

respondents (49% and 48% respectively) as their

preferred choice. Traditional elders were second in

order of preference for both males and females (29%

and 23% respectively). See Fig. 17.

Figure 17: Reporting preference - serious crimes by gender

Several factors, mainly the nature of the cases and

perception towards the entity, were likely to

influence the reporting preference. According to the

discussions, crimes such as murder, robbery and

6 Women, Op. cit. 7 IDP, Focus Group Discussion, 24th May 2015 8 Youth, Focus Group Discussion, 25th May 2015

theft were mostly reported to the police owing to the

fact that this entity was perceived to hold

enforcement authority. A discussant in the women’s

group, for example, stated that, “Serious crimes mostly

require enforcement and legitimate intervention, therefore must be

reported to powerful security providers [those with authority to

enforce].”6 The IDP discussants also stated:

Some incidents, especially those which need enforcement,

such as murders or serious crimes, would be reported to

the police. However, instances of family or

neighbourhood disputes would be referred to the sub-

village committee or to local elders.7

Youth discussants were of the opinion that cases

involving theft should be reported to the police:

“Theft cases and robbery must be reported to the police, because

they have better experience and are familiar with such types of

issues.”8

The justice providers’ group, however, stated that

the lack of enforcement by the formal security

providers, police and district administration, made

people resort to the usage of informal security

providers.9

3.1.3 Police Response

Community-police relations are vital for effective

security provision. The findings, however, indicated

strained relations as status and familiarity with police

officers was perceived to have an influence on police

response. Those who did not have connections

feared being labelled informants or accused of

causing the incident. As a result, people were

sometimes unwilling to report to the police.

According to the discussants from the justice

providers’ group:

Their response depends on your relations with them. At

times you may get a quick response, while at other times

they will accuse you of being responsible for the crimes

you called them for. Lack of trust and fear of each other

substantially weakens their services.10

9 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 10 Justice Providers, Focus Group Discussion, 25th May 2015

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2015

The timing of the incident was also likely to influence

police response as IDP discussants claimed that the

police responded only during the day. Incidents that

took place at night had to wait until dawn breaks.

Discussants argued that the police were not available

at night:

Police response is quick during the day but they are

unavailable at night, and one thus has to wait until the

morning for their intervention.11

At night you will fail to get any response as the police are

not operating at all. During the night the police are

concerned with protecting themselves and not the

community.12

Traditional Elders’ and Religious Leaders’ FGD

discussants also suggested that the reduction in the

deployment of the police at night had a detrimental

impact on efforts to prevent insurgents from

operating in the district:

Most people thus lack access to security during the night,

which explains why Al-Shabaab targets our people at

night-time, [they are] aware victims will lack any

support from security providers.13

3.1.4 Perception of security providers

Despite a myriad of challenges and institutional

deficiencies, police remained relevant and enjoyed a

moderate degree of trust as an entity capable of

responding to crime and violence.

The police were identified as the most trusted

security provider for dealing with crime and violence

by the largest portion (44%) of respondents.

Traditional elders were chosen by 21% and religious

leaders by 15% of respondents. Minor portions of the

sample also mentioned the local authority (8%) and

local security guards (5%), whereas 4% of

participants claimed they did not trust any of the

above to respond to crime and violence (Fig. 18).

11 IDPs, Op. cit. 12 Youth, Op. cit.

Figure 18: Most trusted security provider for responding to crime and violence

Variations were minimal along gender lines. The

sequence remained the same for both genders’

selection of the top four entities for responding to

crime and violence. The greatest variation was

observed with the respective proportions that

selected religious leaders (17% of females versus

12% of males). See Figure 19.

Figure 19: Most trusted security provider- crime and violence by gender

Further examination was carried out to identify the

factors that influenced respondents’ choice of most

trusted security providers. The findings indicated

that respect for religious leaders was the main

reason for their selection (68%), whereas fast

13 Traditional Elders & Religious Leaders, Focus Group Discussion, 23rd May 2015

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response was the factor which most influenced trust

in the local authority and police above other security

providers (61% and 45% respectively). Also, ease of

access was the dominant reason for choice of local

security guards (54%). Table 4 illustrates the reasons

given by respondents for their choice of most trusted

security provider.

Table 4: Respondents' reasons of choice of most trusted security provider

Respondents who indicated that they were aware of

police presence in the district were further asked to

qualify the level of trust they had in the police, the

institution which received the highest preferences in

responding to crime and violence. More than one-

half (52%) of the participants expressed high levels of

trust, with 21% stating they had very high levels of

trust and 31% fairly high. Of the remaining sample,

7% claimed they did not know, 16% reported having

fairly low trust in the institution, and one-quarter

(25%), the second most represented group, claimed

they had very low levels of trust in the police’s ability

to respond to violence and crime (Fig. 20).

Figure 20: Respondents’ level of trust towards police in responding to crime and violence

Levels of trust in the police were comparable for both

males and females. Consistent with the overall

responses, a slight majority of both males and

females (51% and 52% respectively) indicated fairly

or very high levels of trust in the police, while

approximately two in every five indicated fairly low

or very low levels of trust (males: 42% and females:

40%). Approximately 7% of males and 8% of females

did not give a definite response (Figure 21).

Figure 21: Respondents’ level of trust towards police in responding to crime by gender

When asked to compare their current perception of

the change in police performance over the past year,

the largest group (44%) of respondents claimed

there had been no change, while 13% felt that there

had been a decline in performance. However,

approximately one- quarter (26%) of the

Reason for

choice of most

trusted

security

provider

Most trusted security provider in responding to

crime and violence

Trad

itio

nal

eld

er

Rel

igio

us

lead

ers

Loca

l

auth

ori

ty

Po

lice

Loca

l

secu

rity

guar

ds

Fast response 29% - 61% 45% 46%

Unbiased

enforcement 27% 27% 6% 10% -

They are

respected 33% 68% 11% 6% -

Ease of access 12% 5% 17% 34% 54%

They are

security

provider

- - - 5% -

Don’t know - - 6% 1% -

Base 49 37 18 105 13

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2015

respondents claimed that there had been an

improvement in their performance. The remaining

17% of respondents stated that they did not know

whether police performance had improved or

declined over the past year (Fig. 22).

Figure 22: Perception of the performance of the police - yearly trend

The disaggregation of data along gender lines

revealed that a greater proportion of men than that

of women reported that they had seen an

improvement in the performance of the police over

the previous year, with 31% of male respondents

claiming it had improved, compared to 21% of

women. Approximately 22% of female respondents

compared with 13% of males failed to take a clear-

cut position (Fig. 23).

Figure 23: Perception of the performance of the police by gender - yearly trend

Some differences emerged from the disaggregation

of data according to subdivision. Residents of Isha

were most likely to state that there had been an

improvement in the performance of the police, with

39% of respondents from that subdivision stating so.

Comparable portions of approximately one-quarter

of the respondents from the other subdivisions, with

the exception of the IDPs, also reported an

improvement. None among the IDPs felt that there

had been an improvement in the performance of the

police. Reports of a decline were highest among the

IDP community (29%), followed by those in the

Horseed subdivision (17%). Figure 24 illustrates

respondents’ perception of the change in the

performance of the police over the past year by

subdivision.

Figure 24: Perception of the performance of the police by subdivision - yearly trend

From the qualitative analysis there was the

suggestion that police performance was affected by

insufficient police numbers and poor organisation to

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deal with the fragile security situation which the

district faced.14

3.1.5 Challenges facing the police

As previously mentioned, the police were not the

only security providers in the district but operated

alongside other entities such as the SNA, NISA,

AMISOM, and neighbourhood watch (madani).

However, one of the biggest challenges was that:

All these forces are not yet organized across a central

command, and each follow their own regulations,

making their activities unsystematic and causing clashes

among them.15

The various security providers all adhere to different

rules and regulations, and operate independently of

each other, causing discord and rendering them less

effective when responding to incidents. Participants

in the Justice Group discussions went as far as

suggesting that ultimately each community were

themselves responsible for their personal security,

“Every inhabitant of Baidoa is responsible for themselves, for self-

defence, as no other provider can be trusted for security.”16

Even with the best will and intention when

responding to incidents, the police faced further

obstacles when it came to logistical capability (lack of

police vehicles and fuel), along with means of

communication, rendering them “…reactive instead of

proactive in dealing with incidences of crime and violence.”17

Weak relations with members of the community,

combined with Al-Shabaab having a presence in

certain parts of the region, have led to situations

whereby the public were sometimes reporting

disputes/concerns to Al–Shabaab instead of the

police and the other formal security providers.18 The

public’s dissatisfaction with the security providers

has created an environment where certain members

of the community believe that any “authority” with

14 Women, Op. cit. 15 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 16 Justice Providers, Op. cit. 17 Women, Op. cit.

strong enforcement capability is better than inaction

or weak response that is the current case.

Furthermore, it was felt that the police required

appropriate training to equip them with the

necessary skills to handle the various types of issues

that they are faced with. This was expressed by

respondents who claimed that military style training

to effectively deal with the diverse range of security

threats, would help to improve the performance of

the police.19

Focus group discussants also acknowledged that

police morale was affected by inadequate pay: “They

are human beings like us, we cannot expect them to do their job

voluntarily.”20 Respondents suggested that the police

were not being appropriately compensated for the

risks they took as security provision in the current

environment was dangerous work.

18 Ibid 19 Traditional Elder and Religious Leader, Op. cit. 20 Governance Providers, Op. cit.

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3.2 JUSTICE PROVIDERS

Baidoa district, like most of the Somali regions, has

both formal and informal justice providers who are

sometimes used interchangeably.

This section examines the deployment of justice

providers in Baidoa, their performance and

interaction, as well as the perceptions and

preferences of the community with regard to justice

provision.

3.2.1. Level of deployment

A solid majority of survey participants (77%) were

aware of the presence of court in the district. Almost

two in every ten (19%) respondents, however, did

not know how to respond, and 4% were not aware of

the court’s presence (Fig. 25).

Figure 25: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts

The levels of awareness of the court’s presence were

similar among male and female respondents, with

79% of men and 76% of women reporting their

knowledge of the presence of the court. See Figure

26.

Figure 26: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts by gender

Only minor differences emerged from the

organisation of data according to the respondents’

subdivision of residence. Respondents from Horseed

reported the highest awareness of the courts (81%),

while the largest portion of those who were not

aware of the court was among respondents from Isha

(7%). Across the five subdivisions, there were a

proportion of approximately one in five respondents

who did not know how to answer the question.

Members of the IDP community featured the highest

(21%) proportion of respondents who did not know

how to answer the question (Fig 27).

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Figure 27: Respondents' awareness of the existence of courts by subdivision

Among those who acknowledged the court’s

presence, over two-thirds (71%) were aware of only

one court, while two in every ten (21%) were aware

of two courts. Almost one in every ten (8%)

respondents was unable to quantify the number of

courts (Fig. 28).

Figure 28: Respondents' awareness of the number of courts

Virtually all concerned respondents reported that

they could reach the court in less than one hour.

More than one-quarter (28%) of respondents

claimed it would take them less than twenty minutes

to reach the court, and about one-half (49%) stated

that it would take between twenty and forty

minutes. Two in every ten (21%) survey participants

reported living a bit farther away, and having to walk

more than forty minutes and one hour to reach the

court. See Figure 29.

Figure 29: Respondents' estimation of the distance to the court

Residents from Hawl-wadaag were closest to the

court, with almost one-half (45%) of the respondents

from that subdivision stating that they could reach

the court in less than twenty minutes, and a slight

majority (52%) stating that it would take between

twenty and forty minutes to walk to the court. In

contrast, residents from the Bardale subdivision

appeared to be farthest away from the court, as this

subdivision featured the smallest proportion of

respondents who estimated that they could walk to

the court in less than 20 minutes (10%) as well as the

greatest proportion who would require more than 40

minutes (32%).See Figure 30.

Figure 30: Respondents' estimation to the distance of the court, by subdivision

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3.2.2. Usage of the Justice Providers

Since the collapse of the Somali government, the

courts have struggled to regain the public’s trust and

to meet their expectations with regards to access to

justice. Concerns over the cost of bringing a case

before the court as well as suggested bribery

involved in order to obtain a just verdict were two of

the main issues mentioned by participants of the

Justice FGD: “Justice here depends on the size of your wallet.”21

The findings indicated that traditional elders were

the justice providers that survey respondents had

consulted most during the past year, with one-

quarter (26%) of the sample reporting their usage.

They were followed by religious leaders and the

courts, whose consultation was claimed by 15% and

12% of respondents respectively (Fig. 31).

Figure 31: Usage of justice providers

Analysis of the usage of justice providers along

gender lines highlights that traditional elders were

consulted most by both males and females over the

past year. However, males indicated greater usage

of traditional elders, with 33% of men compared with

20% of women stating that they had used traditional

elders during this time. Usage of the courts (females:

14% vs males: 10%) and religious leaders (females:

21 Justice Providers, Op. cit.

18% females vs males: 10%) was slightly higher

among female respondents. See Figure 32.

Figure 32: Usage of justice providers, by gender

The preference for the usage of traditional elders

was further reiterated during the focus group

discussions, whereby the main reason cited by

discussants was their ability to dispense just and

swift verdicts, all done without enforcement

capabilities, but merely based on their role as experts

in Somali traditional law.

3.2.2.1. Comparisons between justice providers

The respondents were asked about the issues they

took to the justice providers. Respondents would

approach different justice providers depending on

the types of cases, for example: land, youth related

matters, business disputes and household violence

related cases, robbery and assault were common

cases that justice providers dealt with. The findings

show that land related disputes comprised 35% of

the cases that respondents brought to the traditional

elders and 43% of cases that respondents brought to

court. Also robbery and household violence were

other types of cases taken to elders (13% and 25%

respectively) and religious leaders- (20% and 37%

respectively). On the other hand, the court alone

dealt with issues including rape and matters related

to Al-Shabaab among others. Table 5 illustrates the

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types of issues that respondents had referred to the

justice providers in the past year.

Table 5: Issues referred to justice providers

Issues

referred to

different

justice

Providers

Justice providers

Court Traditional

Elders

Religious

Leaders

Land dispute 43% 35% 17%

Business

dispute 11% 14% 11%

Robbery 4% 13% 20%

Youth

violence 11% 5% 11%

Household

violence 21% 25% 37%

Assault 7% 8% 14%

Other 11% - -

Refused to

answer - 3% 11%

Base 28 63 35

Among participants who reported consulting the

various justice providers, reports of having received

a judgement was highest among those who had used

traditional elders (71%). Approximately 64% of those

who had used the courts and 61% of those who had

used religious leaders for the provision of justice also

reported that they had received a judgement (Fig.

33).

Figure 33: Issuance of judgments

A very strong majority of the relevant sample

claimed that the judgements that they received from

the various justice providers were enforced. Almost

all (95%) respondents who received judgments from

religious leaders saw judgements being enforced,

while approximately nine in every ten respondents

who had received judgements from the courts and

traditional elders also reported having their

judgements enforced (89% and 87% respectively).

See Figure 34.

Figure 34: Enforcement of judgments

3.2.3. Perception of the Justice Providers

When asked to identify which justice providers they

trusted most, religious leaders were mentioned by

42% of respondents, followed by traditional elders at

23%. The court was mentioned by 20% of the sample.

A minority of respondents (3%) also mentioned local

security guards, and a further 3% cited the local

authority and the police. A total of 6% claimed that

they did not trust any among the justice providers

(Fig. 35).

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2015

Figure 35: Respondents' choice of must trusted justice provider

Slight variations emerged upon the disaggregation of

data along gender lines. A greater portion of women

reported their trust in religious leaders, with almost

one-half (47%) of female respondents compared

with 39% of male respondents claiming that they

trusted them most for solving cases. Women were

also slightly more inclined than men to choose the

court as their most trusted justice provider (22% of

female respondents versus 19% of male

respondents). On the other hand, a slightly greater

proportion of men chose traditional elders, with 25%

of males compared with 20% of females identifying

them as the justice provider that they trust most.

Men were also more likely not to have trust in any of

the justice providers (8% males vs. 3% of female

respondents). See Figure 36.

Figure 36: Respondents' choice of most trusted justice provider by gender

Table 6 shows the reasons for respondents’ choice of

most trusted justice provider. Fair judgements (42%),

fast decisions (29%), ease of access (13%) and

reliability (4%) were the reasons most cited for trust

in the courts ahead of other justice providers. Fair

judgement (59%), independence from politics (15%),

ease of access (7%) and affordability (13%) were the

main reasons cited for trust in traditional elders.

Religious leaders were primarily selected based on

their perception as successfully providing fair

judgements (80%) and local security guards based on

ease of access and fast decisions (38% each).

Table 6: Reasons for trust of justice providers

Reason for trust of justice

provider

Most trusted justice provider in solving cases

The

Co

urt

Trad

itio

nal

eld

ers

Rel

igio

us

lead

ers

Loca

l sec

uri

ty

guar

ds

Oth

er

secu

rity

pro

vid

ers

Fast decisions 29% 6% 2% 38% 75%

Fair judgment 42% 59% 80% 13% -

Independence from politics 2% 15% 13% - -

Less costly 6% 13% 2% 13% 13%

Ease of access 13% 7% 3% 38% -

More reliable 4% - 1% - 13%

Base 46 54 101 8 8

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Public confidence in the formal justice system is

pivotal for its usage. It is against this notion that the

assessment sought to assess respondents’

perceptions of the confidence in the formal justice

system. Of the respondents who were aware of the

court’s existence, the findings indicated that a

minority (30%) held confidence (very or fairly

confident) in the formal justice system, whereas one-

half of respondents (50%) stated outright that had no

confidence in the system. Approximately one in five

respondents (21%) did not give a definite response

(Fig. 37).

Figure 37: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice system

Confidence in the justice system across gender

suggested little variation with 49% of the female

respondents claiming they held no confidence in the

formal justice system, versus 50% of their male

counterparts. Similar proportions of 30% of both

male and female respondents stated that they were

fairly confident or very confident in the system (Fig.

38).

Figure 38: Respondents’ level of confidence in the formal justice system by gender

A little less than one-half of the respondents (48%)

were of the view that there had been no change in

the performance of the formal justice system over

the twelve months preceding the assessment and

12% felt that the performance had declined. Only

one in ten respondents (10%) were of the opinion

that there had been an improvement in performance

over the past year. However, three in ten

respondents (31%) did not give a definite response

(Fig. 39).

Figure 39: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend

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2015

Analysis of respondents’ perception of the change in

the court’s performance illustrates that one-half of

the respondents in Isha (50%) and a little less than

one-half of the respondents in each of the other

subdivisions stated that there had been no change in

the court’s performance. None of the IDPs perceived

that there had been an improvement in performance

over the past year. However, few respondents in

Bardale (12%), Isha (12%), Horseed (11%), and Hawl-

wadaag (8%) felt that there had been an

improvement. The perception that performance had

declined was greatest among members of the IDP

community (21%), followed by those in the Horseed

(19%), and Hawl-wadaag (13%) subdivisions. See

Figure 40.

Figure 40: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend, by subdivision

Males and females held similar views regarding the

change in the courts’ performance over the previous

year. Similar proportions of approximately one in ten

men and women (11% and 9% respectively) felt that

there had been an improvement in performance.

However, close to one-half of both male (49%) and

female (47%) respondents maintained that there had

been no change in the court’s performance, while

approximately 11% of males compared with 13% of

females indicated that performance had declined

during this time. Finally, approximately one-third of

both female and male respondents (30% and 32%

22 IDPs, Op. cit.

respectively) expressed no opinion regarding a

change in performance (Fig. 41).

Figure 41: Perception of the performance of the court: yearly trend by gender

3.2.3.1. Formal vs. Informal Justice

Participants in the FGDs suggested that rampant

corruption, combined with unskilled staff had led to

the community holding serious mistrust and

apprehension towards the courts. Instead, informal

providers were perceived as less corrupt and their

“staff” were regarded as experts in Somali customary

law (Xeer) and Shari’ah law. For these reasons and

many more, the informal providers, such as elders

and religious leaders seemed to hold the public’s

trust and respect and thus held more sway and

authority. In order to restore public confidence,

there were calls for justice sector reform, not only to

eradicate bad practices, but also to ensure that the

archaic legal system, which was drafted by the

military regime of Siad Barre, was updated in order

to reflect the needs of the current civilian

administration.22

Formal Justice Providers - Courts

There was general consensus in the criticisms levied

against the courts, which included: the protracted

length of time cases took to resolve, the high costs

associated with bringing matters before the court

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and the perception that verdicts would swing in the

favour of whomever had the biggest funds available:

Our district lacks any fair form of justice system, with

corruption being the biggest challenge to its attainment.

People have no access to justice and their perception is

that you go to the court either to pay money to protect

your property, or to lose it.23

Respondents lamented over weak institutions

unable to resolve cases efficiently, with seemingly

unknowledgeable and unmotivated staff.24

Informal Justice Providers - Elders and Religious

Leaders

Due to the public’s perception that informal

providers were less corrupt and more just, they were

regarded as being more trustworthy.25

The informal providers utilised various mechanisms

to handle cases, which included: elders ensuring that

disputants signed a declaration that they would

accept the outcome; the creation of an office for

religious justice providers in order to facilitate the

resolution of cases through the use of Shari’ah law.

There was even a murder case mentioned which the

religious justice providers’ office resolved, after the

courts had failed to reach a verdict for the past two

years. They ensured that upon swearing to Allah of

his [the accused] innocence he was freed, and this

was finally accepted by the victim’s family as a fair

ruling:

The suspect was judged innocent, but the other side

maintained that he was guilty. According to religious

rules, unless both parties agree with the ruling, Shari’ah

requires for the guilty party to swear fifty times [of their

innocence], after which the other side must accept the

claim as truthful.26

To sum up, although the majority were aware of the

court, the findings indicate that the people of Baidoa

preferred to utilise the services of the informal

providers. Only a minority of survey respondents

23 Women, Op. cit. 24 Ibid

expressed confidence in the court, which was faced

with allegations of bribery and perceived as being

somewhat inefficient. In addition, the informal

justice providers proved to be more trusted than the

court and other formal institutions.

25 Youth, Op. cit. 26 Justice Providers, Op. cit.

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3.3 GOVERNANCE PROVIDERS

After the capture of Baidoa by Al-Shabaab in 2009,

the Local Council fell as many of the councillors

resigned, while others fled the city. After the

reclamation of the city by the FGS in 2012, a few of

these councillors returned and ostensibly formed the

local council. In 2014, the Interim South West

Administration (ISWA) was officially established and

recognized as an official member of the federal state

of Somalia. The new political change ushered in

leadership changes in the district. The Ministry of

Interior appointed the former Mayor, who also acted

as District Commissioner (DC) of Baidoa, as the

interim mayor for a period of six months. Following

this, there was a discussion between the interim

mayor, the regional administration and the residents

of Baidoa to establish a new local council. An interim

council comprising 10 councillors was agreed on.

This council was nominated by the different clans in

Baidoa.

The interim council’s main function is to work, under

the interim mayor, to oversee the collection of taxes

and provide any other service provided by local

governments. In addition, one of the mandates of

the interim council is to promote citizen participation

and clan representation.

This section aims to assess the awareness,

performance, participation and perception of the

local government as well as the challenges that the

institution faces in the provision of services to the

population.

1. Level of Deployment

The vast majority of respondents (85%) were aware

of the presence of the Local Council in the district.

Almost one in ten (9%), however, was not aware, and

an additional 6% were unsure or did not give a

response (Fig. 42).

Figure 42: Respondents' awareness of the presence of a local council

Disaggregation of data along gender lines illustrated

similar levels of awareness among males and females

(87% and 85% respectively). See Figure 43.

Figure 43: Respondents' awareness of Local Council, by gender

Respondents from all but one subdivision reported

high and comparable levels (>90%) of awareness of

the Local Council. Respondents from Isha, however,

were found to have substantially lower levels of

awareness, with only 63% of the relevant sample

confirming that they knew of the existence of the

Local Council. More than one-quarter (27%) of the

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respondents in that subdivision did not know about

it, and one in every ten (10%) did not know how to

answer (Fig. 44).

Figure 44: Respondents’ awareness of Local Council, by subdivision

3.3.1. Performance of the Local

Council

The Baidoa local government provides a variety of

services aimed at improving the town’s appearance

as well as contributing to the district’s development.

According to the mayor, who took part in an

individual interview as a key informant, substantial

efforts were being made to improve the area’s

security, including support of the police with

contributions. Sanitation efforts were also supported

through a monthly budget, and a well-trained team

was dedicated to ensure that the city remained

clean. Local authorities were moreover concerned

with town beautification, especially of main roads

and popular public venues.27

Despite the high levels of awareness regarding the

existence of the Local Council, awareness of its

service provision was substantially lower. Among

those aware of the council’s presence, more than

one-half (57%) claimed that the Local Council

provided no services or that they did not know what

27 Mayor, Key Informant Interview, 26th May 2015 28 Governance Providers, Op. cit.; IDPs, Op. cit. 29 Justice Providers, Op. cit.

services the council provides. However, a significant

portion of those who were aware of the council

recognised its work in the provision of security

services (42%). In addition, justice, sanitation, health,

infrastructure and education were each mentioned

by less than 5% of these respondents (Fig. 45).

Group discussants who were not directly involved in

the district’s governance mechanisms expressed

their dissatisfaction with the Local Council’s service

provision. They claimed the Council failed to provide

any services to the community, despite it being

successfully involved in the collection of taxes from

the population.28 Participants in the justice

providers’ FGD elaborated on this:

There is no service delivery at this time, and although

taxes are being collected, these are not employed to serve

the district. People are tax payers, but this is not

translated into roads being rebuilt, water resources being

made available, or health being improved for the poor

population.29

The tax rate was also an area of concern. According

to one of the key informants:

High taxation strongly affects our costs and business

transactions. The government has not established regular

taxation, any governmental institution can increase

taxation, as well as demand extra money.30

Despite the overall negative accounts provided by

discussants, few participants in the justice providers’

and in the women’s FGDs mentioned that efforts to

improve sanitation did take place from time to

time.31 A minority within the youth FGD recognised

the efforts to provide security,32 but nonetheless

claimed that such efforts were overall unsuccessful

due to the internal and external challenges the

administration faced, including their limited capacity

and the presence of armed groups such as Al-

Shabaab in the district.

30 Business Person, Key Informant Interview, 26th May 2015 31 Women, Op. cit.; Justice Providers, Op. cit. 32 Youth, Op. cit.

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

3.3.2. Pressing Community Needs

The district of Baidoa had many pressing needs as

mentioned in the quantitative and qualitative data

and the most urgent needs are presented below.

When asked to identify what they regarded as the

most pressing needs in their community,

unemployment was mentioned by over two-thirds

(68%) of respondents. Almost one-half (48%) of the

respondents also mentioned poor economy, and

over four in ten respondents mentioned poor health

(44%), lack of infrastructure (43%) and poor

education (43%). Health and sanitation-related

needs were also mentioned by around one-third of

the sample, and although 42% of respondents who

were aware of the council identified security as a

service delivered by the local council (see Fig. 45

above), 22% of the overall sample still mentioned

insecurity as one of their community’s most pressing

issues (Fig. 56).

33 Traditional Elder and Religious Leaders, Op. cit. 34 Ibid

Figure 46: Pressing Community Needs

Security

Group discussants frequently mentioned increased

security as a fundamental need, reporting instances

of mysterious killings, rape, and crimes perpetrated

by armed militias.33 Although respondents confirmed

the presence of many different security forces

operating within the district, they suggested that the

current security situation may be partly ascribed the

poor coordination between them:

There is a lack of coordination and hierarchy between the

many forces that operate in the territory, which include

the police, the military, the neighbourhood watch

services, the National Intelligence Security Agency

(NISA), and Darawsih [branch within formal security

services].34

Discussants from the women’s, youth’s and IDPs’

FGDs further elaborated on the economic

implications of insecurity, highlighting that activities

such as farming, which takes place outside the town,

has become impossible due to poor security. The

state of security in the district also impacted the

transportation of goods into and outside of Baidoa,

as reported by a key informant directly involved with

the local business community.35

35 Businessman, Op. cit.

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Unemployment

As discussed above, unemployment and poor

economic conditions were to some extent the

consequence of the current situation of insecurity,

which prevented many residents from engaging in

income-generating activities. The lack of job

opportunities, especially for the youth, also

contributed to further perpetuate insecurity, as

many among the jobless resorted to joining armed

groups to ensure financial revenues:

High youth unemployment also explains why so many

youngsters are joining either militias or Al-Shabaab, a

career they regard as a potential source of income.36

Education

Women group discussants regarded the provision of

education as a fundamental need of the community.

Education facilities have become private in the

district; this has substantially limited access to large

portions of the population. The unaffordable

monthly fees often prevent families from sending

their children to school, with significant social and

economic implications:

School fees are high, and many people can’t afford them.

For this reason, the majority of our children today are

joining fighting groups or are in the streets.37

Health

Various participants also mentioned the need for

increased access to functional health services and

medicines in the district. Governance providers

reported that a single public hospital was present in

Baidoa, and was unable to cater for the needs of the

whole population due to the lack of medical supply

and of qualified doctors. Discussants from the youth

group further reiterated the need for better-trained

medical personnel:

The area lacks qualified doctors and most of the

emergency cases are referred to Mogadishu, increasing the

36 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 37 Justice Providers, Op. cit.

chances of patients passing away due to bad road or flight

conditions.38

While the area features an additional private clinic,

this was inaccessible to many due to the high fees for

treatment. Participants in the women’s FGD also

specifically drew attention to the need for mother

and child care clinics in the area:

Health facilities are very poor and we lack mother and

child care centres, and a high number of our pregnant

women die due to pregnancy or birth complications.39

Further enquiry was made among those aware of the

presence of the local council regarding their

awareness of the channels of communication

between the community and the local government.

The Baidoa mayor reported that the local

administration was involved in frequent face-to-face

discussions with community members, as the 10

village representatives, who have been nominated to

ensure power-sharing among clans, gather the

population for discussion. The mayor would himself

carry out consultations with village heads several

times a week to ensure that a track of updates and

feedback was maintained. A little less than one in

every ten (9%) respondents who acknowledged the

local council also stated that they were aware of

channels of communication between the Council and

community. However, the majority (74%) claimed

that they were unaware of such channels, and

approaching two in every ten (17%) were uncertain

about whether they knew of any channels of

communication with the local council (Fig. 47).

38 Youth, Op. cit. 39 Women, Op. cit.

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Figure 47: Respondents' awareness of channels of communication

Among the respondents who were aware of the

council, those from Hawl-wadaag presented the

highest proportion of those who were also aware of

the channels of communication with the local

council, with 14% of the relevant sample responding

affirmatively to the question. The Bardale and

Horseed subdivisions followed, with about one in

every ten (10% and 9% respectively) respondents

being aware of communication channels. Only 5% of

Isha residents who acknowledged the council’s

presence were aware of such channels, whereas

none among IDP respondents were (Figure 48).

Figure 48: Respondents' awareness of channels of communication by subdivision

Of the total sample, only 8% of respondents reported

having participated in consultative meetings

between the government and the community within

the 12-month period prior to the assessment (Fig.

49).

Figure 49: Respondents' participation in local governance consultations (last 12 months)

Within subdivisions, Hawl-wadaag had the highest

proportion of respondents who had participated in

such meetings, with 12% of respondents in that

subdivision confirming they had attended local

government consultations. IDPs and Horseed

residents followed with 8% each, whereas only 5% of

respondents from Bardale and Isha had participated

in consultative meetings (Fig. 50).

Figure 50: Respondents' participation in local governance consultations by subdivision (last 12 months)

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Among respondents who had confirmed their recent

participation in local government consultative

meetings (n=18), those who participated in two and

three meetings each made up one-third (33%) of this

group. The remaining one-third was equally

distributed between those who participated in one

and more than three meetings over the year prior to

the assessment (17% each). See Figure 51.

Figure 51: Frequency of participation in local governance consultations (last 12 months)

3.3.3.1. Election vs. Nomination

When survey respondents were asked whether they

regarded having elected representatives in the local

council as important, an overwhelming majority

(86%) responded that they did. Only 6% of the

sample did not give opinion was on the issue,

whereas the remaining 8% regarded the election of

representatives as unimportant (Fig. 52). Participants

across most FGDs similarly expressed their

preferences for the election of local council

representatives.40 This, they claimed, would on one

hand ensure increased participation of the

population, favouring the administration’s

accountability and transparency and, on the other

hand, increase the likelihood of qualified individuals

taking up the posts:

If you are elected you are accountable to those who elected you, and

you have a fixed term, meaning that if you fail, you lose your

chance and you may not be elected again.41

40 Governance Providers, Op. cit.; Youth, Op. cit.; Women, Op. cit.; Justice Providers, Op. cit.; IDPs, Op. cit.

Despite also being in favour of electing

representatives, participants in the justice providers’

FGD drew attention to the danger of clan dynamics

and nepotism being perpetuated behind the façade

of the apparent democratisation of local

administration:

The biggest problems today are nepotism and tribalism,

and every clan seems to like to elect their worst person,

trying to convince people they can do better and are

qualified.42

Figure 52: Respondents' opinions regarding the importance of elected representatives

When disaggregated by gender, it was observed that

almost equal percentages of both male and female

respondents (86% and 85% respectivley) felt that it

was important to elect local representatives (Fig. 53).

41 Youth, Op. cit. 42 Justice Providers, Op. cit.

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Figure 53: Respondents opinion regarding the importance of elected representatives by gender

3.3.3.2. Local Council’s challenges

Group discussants highlighted that Baidoa’s local

administration faced several challenges which

limited its capacity to improve the delivery of

services to the population. Insecurity was identified

as a major cause of limited service delivery,

preventing the local government from successfully

operating, due to threats from powerful armed

groups.43 The existence of clan ties also affected

service provision, as bureaucrats were often involved

in internal disputes, and were more concerned with

the preservation of clan privilege than with the

egalitarian distribution of services across the

district’s population44: “Clan allegiances are stronger than

the local authorities.’’45 On this issue, governance

providers involved in FGDs explicitly explained that:

Especially at the district-level, each authority is

representing a clan, so most of the time, wherever we

[governance providers] are, we each try to promote our

clan interests.46

Participants moreover highlighted how the need to

preserve clan power-sharing and limited availability

of financial resources affected the quality of human

43 Traditional Elder and Religious Leaders, Op. cit. 44 Women, Op. cit. 45 Traditional Elder and Religious Leaders, Op. cit. 46 Governance Provider’s, Op. cit. 47 Traditional Elder and Religious Leaders, Op. cit.; Youth, Op. cit.

capital employed, thus affecting the standard of

work performed by the local administration:47

Bureaucrats often lack the skills and experience to

maintain the delivery of services. Most of us [governance

providers] have come to power as the result of power-

sharing clan mechanisms, and those who have better

experience lack the chance to participate, better serve

their communities, and facilitate good governance.48

3.3.3. Perception of the Local Council

Discussants expressed negative opinions regarding

the performance of the local council. Their responses

ranged from claims that there had been no

performance which they could assess: “Their

performance is zero;”49 ‘’I would not say there has been any

[performance];’’50 to claims that it had been of very low

quality: “Their performances is very low.”51 Only participants

in the governance providers’ FGD claimed that the

performance of the local administration was to be

regarded as satisfactory considering the security

constraints within which the institution was obliged

to operate: “Our performance is very good considering that our

administration is working in a condition of widespread

insecurity.’’52 The group moreover reiterated their

determination to continue to deliver better services

to the population.

Survey participants were also asked to express the

level of confidence they held in the local council.

Confirming the opinions expressed by group

discussants, approximately one-third (33%) of the

sample expressed positive opinions - comprised of a

marginal minority (3%) reported having ‘very high’

confidence in the council and 30% having ‘fairly high’

levels of confidence. Almost one-half of the sample

(47%) expressed low levels of confidence towards

the local council, with two in every ten (22%)

respondents claiming they held ‘fairly low’ levels of

confidence in the council, and one-quarter (25%)

48 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 49 Justice Providers, Op. cit. 50 IDPs, Op. cit. 51 Youth, Op. cit. 52 Governance Providers, Op. cit.

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reporting ‘very low’ confidence. Those who did not

know how to respond to the question made up a

noticeable minority (20%). See Figure 54.

Figure 54: Respondents' level of confidence in Local council

There were divergencies in the level of confidence of

the local council by gender. Females were slightly

more favourable towards the local council than

males (35% vs. 31%). Correspondingly, male

respondents had less confidence in the council than

their female counterparts (50% vs. 44%), while

similar percentages (20% each) expressed no opinion

regarding their confidence in the council (Fig. 55).

Figure 55: Respondents' level of confidence in the local council by gender

When asked about variations in the performance of

the local council over the previous year, the majority

(51%) of respondents who were aware of the

presence of the council reported that there had been

no change. Those who saw an improvement, and

respondents who perceived a decline in the council’s

performance were fairly equally represented and

respectively made up 11% and 10% of the sample.

However, more than one-quarter of the respondents

(28%) did not give an opinion regarding the change

in the council’s performance (Fig. 56).

Figure 56: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend

The disaggregation of data along gender lines

revealed minimal differences in males’ and females’

perception of the comparative performance of the

local council. Males were more likely than their

female counterparts to report that no change had

occurred (54% as opposed to 49%) and slightly less

likely not to know how to assess recent changes (26%

males vs. 30% females). Comparable portions of

approximately one in ten male and female

participants reported the improvement (10% males

vs. 12% females) and the decline (11% males vs. 9%

females) of the local council’s performance (Fig. 57).

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Figure 57: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend by gender

Substantial differences emerged following the

organisation of data according to respondents’

subdivision. Those who had detected an

improvement in the performance of the council were

mainly represented among respondents from Hawl-

wadaag, where they made up one-quarter (25%) of

respondents from that subdivision, and in near equal

proportions among Bardale and Horseed residents

(10% and 11% respectively). Only a marginal 2% of

respondents from Isha detected a recent

improvement in the council’s performance, and none

among members of the IDP community did so.

Residents from the IDPs were most likely to report

that there had been no change in the performance of

the council (71%), while close to one-half of

respondents in the other subdivisions shared this

opinion. None of the respondents in the Isha

subdivision reported a decline over the year prior to

assessment. However, 17% of respondents from the

Horseed subdivision, along with similar portions of

13% each from Hawl-wadaag and the IDPs, as well as

12% of those from Bardale felt that there had been a

decline during this period (Fig. 58).

Figure 58: Respondents' perception as to the performance of the local council: yearly trend by subdivision

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4. CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE

4.1. Experience of Conflict and

Violence

This section presents an overview of respondents’

account of their experiences with conflict and

violence, the root causes of such incidents, and the

overall perception of safety in the area.

Respondents who reported awareness of clan or

group conflict taking place over the 12-month period

preceding the assessment made up 12% (n=28) of

the sample. The vast majority (87%) of respondents,

however, were not aware of any conflict of the kind

having taken place, whereas a minor portion (2%) of

the sample provided no response on the matter (Fig.

59).

Figure 59: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups

Awareness of conflict was slightly higher among men

than among women, with 14% of the male

respondents confirming that they were aware of

53 Youth, Op. cit.

recent conflict, as opposed to 9% of the participating

females (Fig. 60).

Figure 60: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups by gender

Within subdivisions, almost two in every ten (19%)

survey participants from Horseed reported being

aware of conflict, followed by respondents from IDPs

(13%), from Isha (12%), from Bardale (10%) and from

Hawl-wadaag (8%). Only respondents from Horseed

and IDPs did not respond to the question, and

amounted to 6% and 8% of the respective samples,

as shown in Figure 61.

Participants across various Focus Group Discussions

reported that no clan or group conflict had taken

place in the area over the past year, but some

mentioned that although the city of Baidoa had itself

been safe, conflict involving armed forces and

militias had taken place within the wider district:

Baidoa and its surroundings have been stable in the past

12 months, but the bordering areas such as Daynuunay

where the Somali military is based have experienced

clashes between Al-Shabaab and Somali armed forces.53

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Figure 61: Account of awareness of conflict between clans or groups by subdivision

A large majority (90%) of respondents had not

witnessed any conflict between clans or groups in

the last twelve months (Fig. 62).

Figure 62: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups

Along gender lines, men were more likely than

women to have witnessed conflict, with 12% of men

as opposed to 7% of females stating that they had

witnessed conflict in the past year (Fig. 63).

Figure 63: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups by gender

Direct experience with conflict was highest among

residents of the Horseed subdivision and among

IDPs, where 17% and 13% respectively of

respondents in these subdivisions had been direct

witnesses of clan or group conflict. Less than one in

ten respondents from all remaining subdivisions also

reported that they had observed conflict during the

year preceding the assessment, making up 7%, 8%

and 8% of respondents from Bardale, Isha and Hawl-

wadaag respectively (Fig. 64).

Figure 64: Account of witnessing conflict between clans or groups by subdivision

Furthermore, of the respondents who had reported

observing conflict, one-quarter (25%) had witnessed

four or more group or clan conflicts over the year

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prior to the assessment. About one-quarter (26%)

and almost one-third (30%) of respondents had

witnessed one and two conflicts respectively, and

17% had witnessed three (Fig. 65).

Figure 65: Number of conflicts witnessed (last 12 months)

When further enquiry was made as to how many of

the witnessed conflicts had led to violence, over two

thirds (68%) of the concerned respondents declared

that only one conflict had escalated into violence

(Fig. 66). Crime was also prevalent in the area;

reacting to the question of the crime record in the

district, the Police Commissioner spoke of an average

of 30 cases per week.54

Figure 66: Number of conflicts leading to violence

54 Police Commissioner, Op. cit.

4.2. Dynamics of Conflict and

Violence

Survey respondents identified a variety of different

reasons as the basis of the conflicts they had recently

witnessed. Competition over resources and family

disputes were each mentioned by about one-third of

the concerned observers (35% and 30%

respectively), similar portions of one-quarter each

mentioned revenge and the lack of justice (26% and

22%) as a likely cause, and 17% each identified

power/cultural struggle and youth violence as a

potential reason. About one in every ten of the

concerned respondents also understood conflict as

the outcome of rape or business disputes (9% each).

A minor portion (4%) of the sample in question also

mentioned crime as a possible trigger for clan or

group conflict(s) that they had witnessed (Fig. 67). In

line with the quantitative findings, participants in

focus group discussions also regarded resource-

related disputes as the main cause of conflict in the

area. Moreover, they mentioned the presence of

armed militias and the high incidence of unexplained

killings as additional causes of violence and conflict.55

Figure 67: Causes of conflict within the last 12 months

Resource-related disputes

Individuals across most group discussions regarded

competition over resources, especially in rural areas,

55 Youth, Op. cit.

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as the main trigger of conflict or violence.56 The

challenges faced by the population to secure

livelihood opportunities contributed to the

prominence of land-related disputes of various kinds

across the district:

Most violence in our community is due to land-related

disputes, whether concerning settlement, grazing or

farming land. The communities surrounding the town are

mainly pastoral communities, and most arguments occur

during the dry season, when everyone is seeking to secure

subsistence means for their families. 57

Land-related disputes have substantially increased

since the collapse of the Somali central government,

because land regulation, formerly under

governmental control, was no longer successfully

enforced.58 The disputes which arose may by

consequence be hard to settle due to the existence

of contradicting documents establishing ownership:

”The cases are very complex, and often both parties have certificates

of ownership with a plot number, a signature and a stamp.’’59

Discussants have also drawn attention to the fact

that land disputes constituted ‘’… a fundamental cause of

conflict and clashes among clans,’’ 60 and have in the past

escalated to violence causing the loss of many

human lives.61

Revenge

Both survey respondents and group discussants

regarded revenge mechanisms as central to the

proliferation of violence and conflict in the district.62

According to participants in the youth focus group

discussions, killings were remembered by clans for

several years, and members of the perpetrator’s clan

may be unexpectedly killed for compensation.

Discussants in the women’s group have confirmed

the risk community members faced due to clan

revenge, claiming that, “As a man you may not be able to

56 Youth, Op. cit.; Governance Providers, Op. cit. 57 Youth, Op. cit. 58 Traditional Elders and Religious Leaders, Op. cit. 59 Religious Leaders, Op. cit. 60 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 61 Businessman, Op. cit. 62 Youth, Op. cit.

travel to other districts or regions because of the fear of revenge and

assassination by other clans.’’63

Militias and armed forces

The presence of armed groups and militia was

regarded as a direct trigger of violence and as an

obstacle to the socioeconomic welfare of the

population in Baidoa. Al- Shabaab, involved both in

an ideological and economic struggle, was

mentioned by all discussants as a main threat to

residents’ wellbeing. The group was involved in

promoting its political objectives by targeting

opponents and dissidents, who operate both

internally and externally: ”This radical group, Al-Shabaab,

is a key actor of violence, [at times] killing people…just because of

diverging ideologies.’’64 Discussants explained the

prominence of Al-Shabaab and other militias as a

consequence of the economic situation in the

district, as widespread poverty and high

unemployment encouraged some of the youth to

join militias to ensure financial revenues.65 Favoured

by the proliferation of arms in the area, groups

organise frequent roadblocks and illegal checkpoints,

murders and other crimes, including armed

robberies.66 Beyond having direct effects on the

victims, militia operations also affected the district’s

economy, as business opportunities were hindered

through restricted mobility. For instance, the

transportation of merchandise outside town had

become remarkably expensive, due to the need to

pay bribes at illegal checkpoints.67 Moreover,

farming has widely been abandoned, as leaving the

centre to reach the fields implies exposing oneself to

insecurity.68

The biggest challenge is restricted mobility and the

inability to go and from, due to the fear of Al-Shabaab

63 Women, Op. cit. 64 Traditional Elder, Key Informant Interview, 24th May 2015 65 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 66 Women, Op. cit. 67 Businessman, Op. cit.; Traditional Elder, Op. cit. 68 Traditional Elder and Religious Leaders, Op. cit.

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or other militias who” commit crimes such as murder and

rape.69

This has fundamental repercussions on the economic

welfare of the community, as the majority of the

population historically depended on farming

activities to secure livelihoods.

In addition to unregistered militias, governmental

armed forces were also regarded by discussants as

contributing to the violence in the district. Beyond

their involvement in countering Al-Shabaab and

other militias, the armed forces were also reported

to abuse their power by requesting bribes at

checkpoints and carrying out robberies:

Government forces are central to conflict, and at times,

instead of stopping the conflict, they would violate civil

rights, for instance through big robberies. Khat retailers

are especially targeted, through the use of force.70

Mysterious killings

Unexplained killings have also become a prominent

form of violence in the area. Group discussants

reported a recent increase in night murders targeting

members of civil society, journalists or political

leaders, either taking place at the victims’ own

houses or in front of the mosques.71 No group had

yet claimed responsibility for the acts, and for this

reason this type of violence could neither be easily

prevented, nor punished.72

One in ten (10%) survey respondents also reported

having witnessed crime or violence against someone

outside their homestead, as shown in Figure 68.

69 Traditional Elder, Op. cit. 70 Ibid

Figure 68: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead

The disaggregation of data along gender lines

highlights that men were more likely than women to

have witnessed crime or violence against someone

outside the homestead. Approximately 14% of the

male sample confirmed witnessing such events, as

opposed to 6% of the female sample, as illustrated in

Figure 69.

Figure 69: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead by gender

Some differences also emerged when organising

data according to respondents’ subdivision.

Members of the IDP community were most likely to

have witnessed crime or violence against someone

71 Governance Providers, Op. cit. 72 Youth, Op. cit.

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outside their homestead (17%). They were followed

by residents of the Isha, Hawl-wadaag (12% each)

and Horseed (8%) subdivisions. The least

represented group was that of residents of the

Bardale subdivision, of which only 6% confirmed

having observed crime or crime against someone

outside their homestead (Fig. 70).

Figure 70: Account of witnessing crime or violence outside the homestead by subdivision

When asked about which group they considered to

be the most vulnerable to violence, participants

across all group discussions unanimously mentioned

children, women, the elders (including traditional

and religious leaders), and the disabled. They

claimed members of such groups would be

particularly affected by violence as they faced

substantial challenges in attempting to flee and

relocate elsewhere to seek refuge.73

4.2.1. Conflict Resolution

Following the collapse of the central government,

the role of elders in conflict resolution became

prominent. The elders employed Alternative Dispute

Resolution (ADR) techniques and historic precedents

when resolving disputes between clans.74 The role of

the local administration had been reduced to

facilitation of the negotiations while elders took the

73 Women, Op. cit. 74 Business Person, Op. cit. 75 Governance Providers, Op. cit.

lead since they were likely to be perceived as neutral

and impartial by the conflicting parties.75

In recognition of the role of elders in conflict

resolution, they became a cornerstone for the State

building initiatives in the region as argued by the

women:

Elders are central in resolving conflicts arising within the

community. They [elders] have now become a

fundamental institution for peacebuilding and State

building.”76

Elders not only resolve conflicts but sometimes try to

transform the conflict and to restore the trust

between the parties using traditional approaches

such as intermarriage between the clans of the

conflicting parties:

In some cases we try to increase collaboration between the

clans through intermarriage, or to give the victim’s

family a girl in order not to not recall the past and the

accidents, and to ensure the families or clans are

connected to each other.77

4.3. Perception of safety

Approximately one-half of the sampled respondents

(48%) described the safety situation in their district

as ‘rather safe’. An additional 14% considered the

district to be ‘very safe’, resulting in majority (62%)

of survey participants expressing overall positive

feelings towards the safety situation they

experienced. On the other hand, a little less than one

in four (38%) respondents expressed an overall

negative judgement of the safety situation, with 30%

of the sample regarding their district as ‘rather

unsafe’ and 8% as ‘very unsafe’. Only 1% of the

sample claimed they did not know how to assess the

situation (Fig. 71).

76 Women, Op. cit. 77 Traditional Elder, Op. cit.

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Figure 71: Perception of safety

The disaggregation of data along gender lines

highlights that women were more likely than men to

perceive the district as being safe, with 68% of the

female sample stating that they felt safe or very safe

in the area, as opposed to 56% of the male sample.

More specifically, among female respondents the

majority (52%) characterised the district as ‘rather

safe’, whereas 44% of the male sample shared a

similar opinion. In addition, 16% of females

described it as ‘very safe’, while 12% of males did so.

On the other hand, while 34% of male respondents

regarded the district as ‘rather unsafe’, and 10% as

‘very unsafe’, smaller portions of 25% and 5%

respectively of the female sample did so (Fig. 72).

Figure 72: Perception of safety by gender

Attention to respondents’ subdivision highlights

important variations in their perceptions of safety.

Respondents from Bardale and from the IDP

community expressed the least favourable

perception of the level of safety in the district, with

almost two thirds of respondents in each of these

areas (65% and 63% respectively) reporting that they

felt ‘very unsafe’ or ‘rather unsafe.’ More specifically,

none among IDP respondents described the district

as ‘very safe’, and the portion of respondents

regarding the district as ‘very unsafe’ was the highest

of all subdivisions, making up 17% of IDP

respondents. Bardale also featured a significant

minority (13%) of respondents describing the district

as ‘very unsafe’, while the majority of its population

(52%) regarded the district as ‘rather unsafe.’ Within

the other subdivisions, the majority of respondents

regarded the situation as ‘rather safe,’ amounting to

56% of residents from Horseed, 62% from Hawl-

wadaag and 53% from Isha. Respondents from Isha

were most optimistic about the safety conditions,

with 90% of respondents expressing positive feelings

towards safety in the area, including 37% who

characterised the situation as ‘very safe’ (Fig. 73).

Figure 73: Perception of safety by subdivision

When asked about the evolution of the condition of

safety over time, a quarter of respondents (25%)

claimed that the situation had deteriorated over the

year prior to the assessment. Over one-third of the

sample (35%) claimed instead that they perceived

safety as having increased, whereas 37% of

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respondents failed to identify any changes in the

situation over the previous 12 months (Fig. 74).

Figure 74: Perception of safety -yearly trend

Whereas respondents from the two genders were

equally represented in each of the possible choices

(Fig. 75), interesting differences emerged from the

disaggregation of data according to subdivisions. In

line with their negative feelings regarding the current

security situation, respondents from the IDP

community and from Bardale were the least likely

(8% and 12% respectively) to report improvements in

safety, and the most likely to detect a decrease in

safety over the year prior to the assessment (42%

and 41% respectively). Respondents from the Isha

subdivision, who had expressed the most favourable

opinion regarding the safety situation were also the

ones to report an increase in safety over the previous

year, with two thirds (66%) of the relevant sample

stating that the situation had improved (Fig. 76).

Figure 75: Perception of safety by gender-yearly trend

Figure 76: Perception of safety by subdivision-yearly trend

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5. CONCLUSION

The police served as the main security provider in

Baidoa, where the population involved in the

assessment identified them as the preferred entity

for dealing with both petty and serious crimes, and

for responding to crime and violence in general. The

police were reported to be easily accessible and fast

in their response, and many of the participants who

were aware of its presence reported residing in

relative proximity to the stations. Nonetheless,

several challenges undermined the work of this

security provider. The limited resources available

and culture of fear of reprisals from insurgents and

criminals was identified among the main factors

limiting the performance of the police. For instance,

it directly translated into lack of operations at night,

substantially affecting the security situation on the

territory, while limited vehicles affect the quality of

operations at all times. Moreover, poor

understanding of the different types of cases and

appropriate mechanisms for dealing with them,

prevented the police from operating at maximised

efficiency. Widespread corruption and poor

coordination with other security providers were

additional factors which required intervention to

ensure a better delivery of security services.

When it comes to the provision of justice, the district

has been characterised by an increased awareness of

the courts. However there were several factors that

presented obstacles in the public’s use of the formal

justice system, such as allegations of corruption,

heavy costs associated with using this provider, along

with the length of time it takes to see a resolution. As

the formal justice mechanisms are still establishing

themselves in the district, the public continue to

mainly rely and trust informal providers such as the

elders and religious leaders. The informal providers’

position is also partly associated with their

experience in the legal traditions of the Somali

community. On the other hand, a strong sense of

mistrust in the enforcement powers of the formal

providers and perception that the judicial sector is in

nascent stages of development has also influenced

the public’s scepticism and decreased their usage.

The local authority operates in the Baidoa territory

through a bureaucratic network comprising the

mayor and councillors who represent various clans.

According to the mayor, who participated in the

assessment as a key informant, several mechanisms

of communication and accountability are in place to

link the various administrative branches both

internally and with the population. However,

although participants in the assessment have

confirmed their awareness of the presence of the

local council, awareness of such mechanisms was

substantially lower. Only few participants reported

awareness of the services allegedly provided by the

local administration. Despite the local council being

responsible for town beautification efforts, the

provision of security services, sanitation, and other

services, participants were either unaware of or

unhappy with the delivery of such services. The levels

of confidence towards the local administration

expressed by participants were significantly low, and

emphasis was placed on the need for election of the

officials for increased accountability and improved

performance.

When it comes to instances of insecurity, Baidoa did

not witness any major group or clan conflicts in the

recent past. However, much like the rest of Somalia,

resource-related disputes were common over access

to grazing land. Family and revenge conflicts were

the most common issues. Reports of militias,

insurgents and criminals causing insecurity by

making it difficult for the public to get around the

district, to nearby farms, and other regions was

cause of concern. However, in spite of various crimes

and incidents of violence, the majority stated that

they felt safe; however, a significantly higher

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proportion noted that they felt rather safe as

opposed to very safe.

In order to address the concerns of the citizens and

improve the levels of trust and confidence in the

formal institutions, greater understanding regarding

the role of the government and its institutions is

required. This needs to be followed up by the

development and implementation of robust

administrative capabilities that can improve

transparency and efficiency.

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6. ANNEXES

6.1. Sample Size Formula

z2 (P) (1-P) (f)

e2

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 – 9%)

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6.2 Glossary of Terms

Access to Justice 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.

Civil case 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

Clan The clan is a system characterised by a chain of paternal ancestors reaching back to a perceived founding ancestor whose name all members of the clan share for identity

Conflict State of disharmony between incompatible persons, ideas, or interests

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

District Safety Committee 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

Enforcement 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 minimise impunity, thus preventing further injustices.

Formal Justice System A codified system of laws and court proceedings enforced by recognised 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 "Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

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

Informal Justice System 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.

Justice Provider 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)

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