Seminar: daily conflict resolution in Hargeisa

SÉMINAIRE / SEMINAR

The modalities of daily conflict resolution in Hargeisa, Somaliland

by Axelle Djama

Date: Wednesday March 6, 2019 – 2-3:30 pm

Venue: Berhanou Abebe Library,  French Center for Ethiopian Studies  (Jan Meda, https://goo.gl/maps/sutSritp3MU2)

Drawing on direct observations and datas collected in Somaliland in June-July 2018 and January-March 2019, this presentation aims at analysing the modalities of daily conflict resolution in Hargeisa, the major city in Somaliland. The presentation will address the daily work, practices and meanings of policing in an urban context in Somaliland, focusing on the multifaceted interactions between police officers and ordinary citizens at the police station.

The context in which this research was conducted is characterised by the plurality of the security landscape. Indeed, police officers are embedded in local networks composed of other state and non-state order-making actors they have to cooperate with. Moreover, in Somali society, dispute settlement rarely remains an intimate or private matter. Even at the police station, the process of claim registration often involves many people taking part in the interaction, either as witnesses or as family support.

This research analyses how the police station appears as the place where most disputes are settled in Hargeisa, through practises accommodating “traditional” compensation arrangements among stakeholders as well as law enforcement procedures. The presentation will analyse how police officers’ legitimacy is negotiated in the daily interactions they have with ordinary citizens at the police station and the modalities of popular demand for police intervention.

L’intervenant / the speaker

Axelle Djama is a master student in Comparative Politics at Sciences Po (Institute of Political Sciences) in Paris, France. Her ongoing research focuses on police forces in Somaliland, through an analysis of police officers’ practices in Hargeisa. Her last fieldwork was supported by a grant from the CFEE.