Background
Somaliland has been contaminated by explosive remnants of war since the early 70’s when the Ogaden war broke out between Somalia and Ethiopia. In the early 80’s violence broke out once again between the Somali National Movement and the Somali government, led by General Siad Barre. The resulting conflict eventually led to Somaliland declaring independence in 1991. Inter-clan rivalries beset the region for some time, but since 1997 Somaliland has enjoyed relative peace and stability.

Mine Action
In the early 1990s a commercial mine clearance organisation called Rimfire conducted mine clearance of highly impacted areas throughout Somaliland, reducing the immediate threat to the local communities under difficult circumstances. However, a significant threat remained from explosive remnants of warin Somaliland, so Danish Demining Group (DDG) started a humanitarian mine action programme in Somaliland in 1999. Since then DDG has:

• Cleared 30 minefields
• Conducted 90 Battle Area Clearance Tasks
• Conducted more than 4,500 community visits under a village by village clearance program for unexploded ordnance
• Surveyed more than 150 individual sites for landmine and unexploded ordnance contamination
• Cleared more than 11,000 landmines and 124,000 unexploded ordnance
• Delivered mine risk education to more than 34,000 persons
• Conducted the Somalia Phase One Landmine Impact Survey

As the threat from landmines and unexploded ordnance has decreased, DDG has refocused its work in Somaliland to ensure maximum impact for the communities it works with. To this end, in 2006 DDG ceased its mine-clearance activities in Somaliland, while continuing small scale Village-by-Village clearance of unexploded ordnance – an innovative approach that has been highly successful in convincing private owners of explosive remnants of war to give up their stockpiles for destruction by working with local leaders in implementing advocacy and education initiatives. Since 2008 this strategy has been included as part of the Community Safety programme described below, as well as functioning as an independent activity across the country.

Community Safety
A small arms and light weapons assessment carried out by DDG in 2007 showed that Somaliland suffers from an excess of uncontrolled arms (i.e. an estimated 80% of all households own at least 1 firearm) which far too often results in unintended accidents and exacerbates the seriousness of low-level disagreements. Therefore, in April 2008, DDG launched a new Community Safety programme aimed at promoting greater community safety and reducing armed violence through improved attitudes and behaviour with regards to small arms, explosive remnants of war and conflict management.

The programme is culturally sensitive and respects Somalilanders’ perceived right to self-protection and need to maintain ownership and control over their firearms. Thus, the programme aims not to disarm people, but to facilitate and promote improved small arms and light weapons management at community level and to capacitate community members to take responsibility for enhancing their own safety and security. The Community Safety Programme encompasses the following components:

• Building community capacity to enhance safety through participatory community safety plan processes and training of existing management structures to enable them to actively use the community safety plans to improve their safety situation
• Addressing small arms as tools of violence through A) production and distribution of safe storage devices for firearms (gun locks) to introduce a systematic firearm management regime, prevent thefts by criminal elements and restrict accessibility for children and others who are vulnerable to accidents B)firearms safety education for firearm owners and dependents to encourage safe behaviour when handling and storing firearms in order to prevent accidents and foster a wider ethos of responsibility
• Addressing immediate threats to life and limbs by explosive remnants of war through removal and destruction to prevent accidents and future use of these items as tools of violence and mine risk education for community members to teach safe behaviour in potentially contaminated areas
• Building capacity for conflict management and peace through conflict management education for community members to enable settlement of minor conflicts peacefully and discourage the use of armed violence
• Strengthening relationships between police and communities through advocacy activities and establishment of community-police dialogue forums

Since the launch of the Community Safety programme in 2008, DDG has:

• Delivered firearms safety education to more than 28,000 people
• Delivered mine risk education to more than 20,600 people
• Trained more than 2,400 people in conflict management
• Provided more than 7,000 firearm owners with safe storage devices for their firearms
• Collected and destroyed more than 4,100 items of explosive remnants of war from private stockpiles with 78% of all identified owners handing over their stock
• Cleared an additional 6,700 abandoned explosive remnants of war

In addition to this, the population in DDG’s so far 30 target communities have actively engaged in safety-enhancing activities and have begun providing education to fellow community members, improving their collaboration with official security providers.

Impact
An impact assessment carried out in 2011 shows the following results of DDG’s Community Safety programme in Somaliland:

Reduced threats from small arms and light weapons and explosive remnants of war

• Reduction from 14% to 2% in firearms-related accidents
• Reduction from 34% to 8% in people who worry about accidents with mines/explosive remnants of war or firearms
• 66% of identified private owners of explosive remnants of war disarmed
• 76% of community members find that DDG’s gun locks and firearms safety education have made their community safer

Reduced violence and conflict

• Reduction from 18% to 8% in people who have had a violent encounter in the past twelve months
• Increase from 30% to 77% in people who say that the level of armed violence in their community has reduced compared to one year ago
• Reduction from 29% to 10% in people who fear becoming a victim of crime or a violent encounter

Improved security provision and conflict management

• 31% increase in community trust in police
• More than 30% increase in community rating of police efficiency and accessibility
• 86% of community members find that conflict management has improved in their community after DDG’s interventions

The results are based on data from 1018 household questionnaires (509 collected before DDG’s interventions and 509 collected after) and participatory impact assessment interviews with 33 focus groups in DDG’s 11 target communities in Baligubadle, Lascaanood and Oodweyne districts. More detailed information is contained in the document which can be downloaded from the right side of this page.

DDG Somaliland, in conjunction with the Small Arms Survey, has published the report ”Community Safety and Small Arms in Somaliland”. The report is based on data collected from 157 communities in 32 districts, including 2846 household questionnaires and 281 focus group and key informant interviews with actors in the field of community safety. It is available to download on this page for use by other actors in Somaliland and the wider development community.