The role of women in peacebuilding has long been underestimated in Somaliland. Since the country's collapse and the emergence of Somaliland, citizens have been plagued by protracted political insecurity and militarised violence.
When I meet Ikran and Deko, I'm struck by how ordinary they look. There is nothing superhuman about them, nothing of a stereotypical militant feminist. And yet they have chosen one of the most controversial and challenging careers for a woman in Somalia.
Working in the media is frowned upon here if you are a man. If you are a woman, it's madness.
For more than 20 years there has been a continuous stream of bad news where Somalia is concerned with images of war, famine and piracy. Now with Al Shabaaab driven out of Mogadishu, and the Somali Transitional Government and African Union in control of the capital, Somalia seems to have joined the Africa Rising tide, and interestingly the image of Somalia's new era of a peaceful future seems to be largely women.
The disturbing case of a Somali woman who alleged she was raped by security forces, only to be convicted by a court Tuesday of making a false claim and insulting the state, has outraged human rights groups and advocates for women's rights around the world. The court also convicted a journalist who had interviewed the woman of the same charges (although he has published nothing so far). Each was given a one-year prison sentence.
Activists in Somalia are demanding that their new government do more to investigate rape charges, especially those directed at men in uniform.
Anchor Marco Werman talks with three women who work at a rape crisis center in Mogadishu, and finds out why the entry of women into Somalia's armed forces might be helping to combat rape.
No matter what one thinks, or in what color one tries to see the appointment of Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam as the first woman Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Somalia it is the historical significance of a woman reaching this far in tribal-based Muslim society, where women are seen only as an appendage if not indeed a property to their menfolk, that should not escape any conscientious person's attention.
Deeqo Jibril is always on the go. Whether she is tending to her four children or teaching breast cancer awareness classes to women in her community, the Somali-born community organiser is always up for a new challenge.
Recently, she gave up her job as a social worker to focus full time on the Boston-based Somali Community & Cultural Association, a nonprofit Jibril founded a year ago to support Somali-American women.
Somalia, like many other African countries, has endured sustained militarization and armed conflict. This phenomenon has become a significant obstacle to Somalia's progress towards peace, justice, democratization, and development. As a rule of thumb: where militarization increases, so does death and destruction, and human rights abuses. And, yes, so does senseless wars.
Al-Shabaab loyalists are shooting themselves liberally in the foot with all their strange rules, the most recent being that women should not be permitted to sell khat, the popular stimulant. It is a redundant clause, if the Somali fundamentalists are seriously considering becoming the rulers of a nation.
