Regional Flag of Somali Hebrews - Somali Jews
By IAN FISHER
New York Times
The
sultan of the Jews in Somalia is a handsome, silver-haired man named
Ahmed Jama Hersi who does not know the first thing about Judaism. He is a
Muslim, as were his ancestors back at least 800 years. But he and his
people are treated badly, cursed as descendants of Israelites. The name
of the tribe is Yibir, or Hebrew.
''Even our young people,'' he said, ''they are ashamed when you ask them what tribe they belong to. They will not say Yibir.''
Not much is known about the lineage of the Yibir, one of Somalia's ''sab,'' or outcast, clans. But if Somalis succeed in creating a new central government -- as they have been trying to do since March -- the Yibir will for the first time taste political legitimacy and respect. In the 225-member assembly envisioned for a new Somalia, the Yibir get one seat.
Not much is known about the lineage of the Yibir, one of Somalia's ''sab,'' or outcast, clans. But if Somalis succeed in creating a new central government -- as they have been trying to do since March -- the Yibir will for the first time taste political legitimacy and respect. In the 225-member assembly envisioned for a new Somalia, the Yibir get one seat.
A conscious effort is being made to broaden political power
in Somalia, traditionally held by old men from the four major clans. In
the new assembly, women, the bedrock of Somali economic and family life,
have been allocated 25 seats.
Minority clans like the Yibir, Midgan and Tomal will have 24 seats,
if the assembly is ever translated from a nice idea at a peace
conference here in neighboring Djibouti to an actual government in
Somalia, which has been without one since 1991.
''This is the most
broad-based process that Somalia has ever known,'' said David Stephen,
the representative of Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general,
at the peace talks. ''Never before have women and minorities taken part
in discussions about their country.''
The question is whether this
means anything. It is far from certain that any new government will
ever actually sit in Somalia, though hopes are high. Perhaps more
important is whether the elderly men from the major clans will cede any
of their authority. Mr. Stephen said some men bluntly say that they
''are only doing this to please the United Nations.''
But still
the minority groups, who prefer to be called the Alliance, and women are
talking about the power they theoretically hold if they vote as a bloc.
The
top positions in any new government are likely to be doled out to the
major clans, and any clan that makes alliances with the women and
minorities in the assembly is more likely to win.
''We have to
have one voice and one interest as women,'' said Asha Haji Elmi, leader
of the women delegates to the conference. She conceded that there would
be pressure for women to vote with their clans rather than as women.
Twenty of the women's seats are assigned to the four major clans and the
remaining five to the minority clans.
''It's difficult,'' she said, ''but we have to overcome the obstacles.''
It
is, at any rate, a high-minded exercise, pushed strongly by the peace
conference's host, President Ismael Omar Gelleh of Djibouti -- though
Somalis are quick to point out that Mr. Gelleh's own government is not
nearly so liberal as his vision for Somalia's.
''It is not in our
tradition,'' said Mahmoud Imam Omar, an elder in one of the major clans,
the Hawiye, speaking of the inclusion of women. ''President Gelleh has
made us do it. But we have accepted it.''
A Somali businessman,
Muhammad Ali Muhammad, said it was an experiment worth trying. ''We have
seen how the men have devastated the country,'' he said. ''So maybe the
women and minority groups would be better.''
A new government is, of course, no guarantee of equality. Then again, the Yibir do not have much to begin with.
Mr.
Hersi, 68, who has been the elected leader of the Yibir for 22 years,
was asked to speak at one of the opening sessions of the peace
conference two months ago. He noted that the Yibir had suffered terribly
during the years of war but wanted badly to forgive and move on.
''In
the civil war I lost my son, my wife, my brother, my dignity and my
self-respect,'' he told the delegates. ''But still I have come here to
work for reconciliation.''
Part of the bad treatment, he concedes,
is the support of many Yibir for the dictator Muhammad Siad Barre. When
he was overthrown in 1991, Mr. Hersi fled the country with surviving
members of his family to live in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.
But
part of it is simply that they are one of the low castes of Somalis, and
particularly that they are believed to be ethnic Jews in a strongly
Muslim country.
''We were never given our rights,'' he said.
For
many years the Yibir were forbidden to be educated, and Mr. Hersi says
he can barely spell his name. They do work that is considered to be
base, like metalworking and shoemaking.
Traditionally many earned
money through the Somali belief, stretching back perhaps centuries, that
it is lucky to give the Yibir a small amount of money when a son is
born or at a marriage.
Mr. Hersi cannot say exactly how or when
his ancestors made it to Somalia, though he believes that about 25,000
Yibir live there and in neighboring countries like Ethiopia, Djibouti
and Kenya. Stories passed down from his forefathers have it that they
came as Arabic-speaking teachers more than 1,000 years ago.
He
said there was no relation between them and the Jews of neighboring
Ethiopia, many of whom still practice Judaism. It is hard to say exactly
how the Yibir are Jews, or why they treated so badly because of it.
The
Yibir not only know nothing about Judaism, but they also say they have
no intention of converting or, like the Ethiopian Jews, seeking
resettlement in Israel.
''That would only make more problems,''
said another Yibir, Muhammad Ali Hassan, a trader in the emirate of
Dubai on the Persian Gulf.
The process of getting their one seat
has been typically difficult. Mr. Hersi said he had never received an
invitation even to come to the conference, though he made it here with
the help of the United Nations. In negotiations with other outcast
clans, the Yibir originally were given two seats in Parliament, but a
few days ago, one was stripped from them. Still, he said, one seat is a
start.
''Before we had nothing,'' he said. ''This is the beginning, the first step.''
6 comments:
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
Even yibir are originally jews, that does not mean to remain judaism. They found the truth, islam and they are not murdered like the way european hitler did. Am glad to have yibir in somalia, and this time any miss treatment of anyone in somalia will be dealed in accordingly
Why are there so many people within various African communities adopting Hebrew/Jew/Israel identity?
pls dont think that the jews people are stoped they know that you guys you need a money thats why you guys say we are jews
We are proud of our yibirs they are our friends and our country men they are respectable in Somaliland i know many of them even they were my classmates
Yes we are yibir, we proud to be Jews originally but these others Somalis deal us badly sory
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