After the collapse of the nation-state in 1991, warring clans established separate administrations in the contested and divided city of Galkayo, widening the division between the communities in Galkayo and the larger Mudug region. The violence and atrocities that were committed during this period were never adequately addressed and their impact on communities continues in the form of historical grievances that exacerbate tension and conflict to date. Conflicts in Galkayo have been numerous and even with continued ceasefire agreements, the deep-seated grievances, without being properly addressed, will keep on bringing recurrent violence and conflicts.
Against this backdrop, and as part of the Road to Sustainable Peace and Reconciliation Between Puntland & Somaliland and Puntland & Galmudug funded by the Swiss Embassy and UNDP, implemented jointly by the Puntland Development and Research Centre as the lead organization and the Academy for Peace (Somaliland segment) and the Horn Centre (Galmudug segment) as partners. A research study dubbed the Reassessment of the Social, Peace, and Security Situation in Galkayo was conducted from October to November that sought to find out what had changed or transpired since the last “Galkayo Conflict Assessment Report” conducted by Interpeace and its Somali partner PDRC.
The reassessment was necessitated among other things to:
(i) Shed light on the current social, peace, and security situation in Galkayo based on the new dynamic changes that are taking place in Galkayo since the 2016 peace accord,
(ii) Find out what has worked and what hasn’t in the search for sustainable peace and reconciliation,
(iii) Re-engage with stakeholders and concerned parties within various platforms and activities to bolster dialogue and further strengthen a culture of peace, trust, and confidence-building between communities in the region, and
(iv) Maintain the peacebuilding momentum by bridging the communities to keep peace and the dialogue going with the aim of attaining sustainable peace in the region.
