2.2.4. Social support networks, including for specific groups

Clan protection plays a role in Hargeisa in everyday life. Dominant groups can protect their members and sometimes, elders or government officials try to interfere with the course of justice by releasing their relatives from police custody. Yet, generally, this happens less frequently than it did some years ago.1086

Minority group members, especially Gabooye, are discriminated against in Hargeisa. They live in the most impoverished neighbourhood of the city. Often their children have limited access to secondary or tertiary education. Intermarriage between Gabooye and locally dominant groups is stigmatised. Members of the Gabooye group are frequently insulted and harassed in everyday life. Hargeisa also has a considerable influx of IDPs and refugees, who seek jobs and contribute to economic growth.1087 While most IDPs can move freely in Hargeisa, they face challenges. ‘74% of HHs [households] living in IDP sites reported being unable to meet their basic needs independently’; some 55% of IDPs in Hargeysa had difficulties with accessing food and 77% had difficulties with accessing healthcare services.1088 Most IDPs in Hargeysa had access to education. But housing and land tenure security were problematic. In 2024 it was reported that ‘41% of HHs living in IDP sites relied on oral land agreements, leaving them vulnerable to disputes and eviction risks.’ Moreover, ‘45% of HHs living in IDP sites relied on casual labor, while only 28% had access to salaried jobs.’1089 In January 2024, 20 households (some 120 individuals) were evicted from three IDP sites in Hargeisa.1090 Besides, some Somali returnees from Sudan, Egypt, and Libya were received in Hargeisa in January 2024 via the UNHCR-IOM's voluntary repatriation program.1091