Scarcity and Surfeitin the onset and duration of conflict in Somalia. A second lesson, and relating
to the first, is that local competition to access and control land and resources
articulate with national level conflict to control the state. Control of deeg~n
plays a critical role in determining political strength at the national level. Clans
and clan alliances claim greater power in national level decision-making
processes through control of deegaan. Therefore, competition between different
groups at the local level to control deegaan are firmly linked to conflict at the
national level to control the state, and thereby dominate the institutions and
laws that determine the allocation of national wealth, including land and natu-
ral resources.
A third lesson is that control of land and resources plays a critical role in
both the unmaking of old power and the formation of new contractual agree-
ments and power in Somalia following the collapse of the central state.
Finally, a fourth lesson is that there is a custom, incorporating dialogue,
negotiation and reciprocity that can serve to constitute new policies and
processes for conflict prevention and management. Examples are particular-
ly rich in the many ways that different social groups in Somalia historically
use land and resources to establish durable and reciprocal social and eco-
nomic ties.
The lessons from earlier attempts to end the civil war in Somalia squarely
point to the need to build peace matched to the peculiarities of the Somali
context.
Proposals for new policies and legislation on land and resources can estab-
lish rules and norms that are useful in peace building and the broader con-
struction of a new political system for Somalia. For example, equitable and
fair distribution of land and natural resources is one way to peacefully rec-
oncile competing groups.Land ownership, access to resources, and a hierar-
chy of first rights are ingrained in Somali society. Equity should be a guiding
principle in the formation of new policies and legislation for land and
resource rights, bearing in mind time of occupancy, customary rights, land
use, group affiliation, gender, and age of the many competing actors and
groups. A future broad-based Somali government, in consultation with local
leaders, civil society representatives and the international community, should
formulate new policies to redress land and resource issues, all the while seek-
ing to promote equitable distribution and broader benefit sharing.
Any future conflict prevention and management strategy must be inclu-
sive, incorporating all factions throughout the process of managing conflict
and building peace. (This will include all factions inside Somalia, as well as
their patrons in eastern Africa and the Middle East, notably Egypt, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya.) The legitimacy of many past initiatives was
undermined because only certain factions were represented, excluding
(intentionally or not) other large and small factions. Despite the vested inter-
ests by many of the armed groups to prolong the conflict no group, including