Acknowledgments
Competition over the control and ownership of land has long been acknowledged as a driving force behind violent conflict in Somalia. As Besteman and Cassanelli argue in their groundbreaking book on the subject—The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia—political reconciliation has little chance of long-term success, if it is ‘not accompanied by mechanisms for resolving competing claims to land and other productive assets.’1 Their analysis was largely concerned with rural land. This report is concerned with what is arguably Somalia’s most contested piece of real-estate—its capital, Mogadishu.
Research for this report was undertaken in 2014, but with refugee returns continuing to increase in 2016, a large population of long-term internally displaced people in the city, and a new government and national development plan, its publication remains timely. Without an effective system of land governance in place, competition over land will continue to be a source of violent conflict, threatening to undermine stability and affecting all walks of life. While the land question has been acknowledged in successive peace agreements in Somalia, the political sensitivity and complexity of the subject means there has been limited progress in developing concrete policies to address the issue.
The issue of land in Mogadishu is multifaceted and deserves more attention than this report can give it, as do the dynamics of land in Somalia’s other urban centres, such as Kismaayo, Baydhabo or Gaalkacyo. This report aims to inform the development agendas of the Somali Federal Government (SFG) and Federal Member States, and international policy makers, on the subject of land in Somalia. Researching land in Mogadishu is a difficult undertaking. The sensitivity of the subject means that the researchers and authors of this report prefer to remain unnamed. We acknowledge the quality of their research in very difficult circumstances. We also thank Catherine Bond and Fergus Nicoll for editing an earlier version of this report, and those who have comprehensively reviewed and commented on the report, including Ken Menkhaus, Lee Cassanelli, Mahad Wasuge, Mohamed Ahmed ‘Shaan’ and Rick Davies.
Mark Bradbury
Rift Valley Institute
Nairobi
Abdirashid Hashi
Heritage Institute for Policy Studies
Mogadishu