The Recurrent Clan Clashes on Economic Development and Social Progress in the Mudug Region of Somalia: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

This study examines how recurrent clan clashes in a pastoral region shape economic development and social progress by combining structured questionnaires with key informant interviews and focus group discussions in a mixed-methods framework (El-Naggar et al., 2016). Quantitative data were coded, cleaned, and analyzed in SPSS while thematic analysis organized qualitative narratives, producing triangulated evidence from multiple stakeholder groups including youth, local administrators, traditional elders, business owners, women, and internally displaced persons (El-Naggar et al., 2016). A target sample of 130 participants was recruited, with 98 responding to structured questionnaires; qualitative fieldwork complemented these survey data (El-Naggar et al., 2016). Findings identify competition over grazing land and water, drought-induced scarcity, revenge attacks, political interference, youth unemployment, and weak local governance as interacting drivers that generate recurring cycles of violence (El-Naggar et al., 2016).

Economic impacts concentrate on interrupted trade, constrained transport corridors, damaged productive assets, declining household income, slowed market activity, and reduced employment, with livestock production and transportation especially exposed (El-Naggar et al., 2016). Social consequences include disrupted schooling, teacher relocation, shortages of health personnel and medicines, erosion of community trust, and widespread internal displacement that strains host communities and service systems (El-Naggar et al., 2016). Coping mechanisms center on customary mediation led by elders and religious leaders, household livelihood diversification, community solidarity, and humanitarian assistance, yet these responses are increasingly strained by repeated shocks (El-Naggar et al., 2016). Policy implications emphasize linking emergency support with longer-term development: strengthen natural resource governance, enhance local administrative capacity, expand employment opportunities for youth, protect education and health services during insecurity, and integrate traditional dispute resolution with formal institutions (El-Naggar et al., 2016).