Abstract:
Somalia comprises of Somalis who are the majority with unique attributes in common
including sharing of language, culture and religious faith as Muslims. However, over
the past decade, Somalia has not enjoyed peace after being regarded as dysfunctional
state with the fall of General Siad Barre’s regime in 1991. Several actors including the
international community have tried their best to manage conflicts in Somalia though
much is yet to be realized. With the current policy debate on power sharing, this study
sought to determine if it can help in managing conflicts in Somalia. Specifically, the
study sought to: establish the evolution of power sharing and its role in conflict
management in Somalia, determine the role of clan elders in power sharing on conflict
management in Somalia, analyze the effects of political peace talks of power sharing
on conflict management in Somalia and assess the effects of constitution review on
power sharing on conflict management in Somalia. The Classical consociational theory
provided anchorage to the study. The study adopted mixed method covering qualitative
and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods entailed the use of interview guide
while quantitative methods covered the use of an explanatory and descriptive design.
The study targeted 380 political leaders, clan elders, religious leaders and country
representatives from humanitarian organizations operating in Mogadishu. The sample
size was determined using Yamane formula which was equivalent to 194 respondents.
The respondents were selected using stratified random sampling method. Primary data
was collected using questionnaire that was semi-structured. Prior to data collection, the
questionnaire was pilot tested among 10 respondents that were purposively and
randomly selected from Esleigh area in Kenya. The collected data was cleaned and
edited in excel for consistency before being exported to Statistical Package for Social
Sciences for analysis. Descriptive statistics covering frequencies and percentages were
used to summarize the data while inferential statistics covering regression analysis was
used in drawing deductions about power sharing and conflict management in Somalia.
For qualitative data collected from interviews, content analysis was used to analyze the
themes. The findings of the study are expected to inform policy formulation in Somalia
with regard to power sharing and management of conflicts. From the findings, 90
(73.2%) of the respondents agreed that power sharing was done to establish transitional
government in Somalia, 94 (76.4%) agreed that the competency of the clan elders in
maintaining peace in Somalia was demonstrated in their oratory skills, 89 (72.4%) of
the respondents agreed that they believed some of the political elites were not sincere
in their representation in political talks in Somalia and 95 (77.2%) of the respondents
agreed that federalism has resulted into decentralization of power from the federal
government to the States. The study concludes that the role played by clan elders had
the largest effect on conflict management followed by, constitutional review, political
peace talks and evolution of power sharing. The study recommended that the
international community including UN should support and promote the role of clan
elders in conflict management in Somalia. The entire constitutional review process in
Somali should be supported by the international community as a mechanism of
resolving the conflicts. Political peace talks in Somalia should be inclusive processes
that involve all people including female gender. Power sharing should be improved as
that can have significant contribution towards conflict management in Somalia