Mogadishu
The long-awaited SSC-Khatumo Governance Conference officially commenced on July 6, 2025, in Las’ Anod, marking a significant moment for the future of governance in this region and its border areas. Spearheaded by clan elders and political leaders, with strong backing from the Federal Government of Somalia, the Conference aims to establish a functioning and representative administration for the SSC-Khatumo State. This process follows two (2) and a half year of instability and violent conflict, particularly the deadly clashes that erupted in Las Anod in late 2022 and persisted throughout 2023. In early 2023, a thirty-three (33)-member committee composed entirely of male traditional leaders and politicians declared allegiance to the Federal Government and initiated the path toward SSC-Khatumo‘s statehood. Yet, glaringly absent from this committee were women, despite their crucial role in organizing peaceful protests, caring for displaced families, documenting atrocities, and sustaining humanitarian responses throughout the conflict.
Now, in July 2025, history is repeating itself. While the SSC-Khatumo Governance Conference unfolds in Las’ Anod and is commended as a critical moment pregnant with the possibility of peace, justice, and institutional rebirth, women are once again being sidelined. No women leaders, civil society representatives, or grassroots actors have been meaningfully included in the political deliberations, nor are their voices reflected in decision-making processes that will shape the future of the region. This undermines the legitimacy, inclusivity, and long-term sustainability of any governance structure emerging from this process.
However, it is not too late to remedy this. We, the undersigned Women, Peace and Security Champions and Women’s Rights Organizations across Somalia, therefore, issue this urgent and united call for the full, meaningful, and equal inclusion of women in the governance formation of the SSC-Khatumo process. The Federal Government of Somalia, which supports and facilitates the formation of SSC-Khatumo, has a constitutional and international obligation to ensure women’s participation in peacebuilding and political governance, as enshrined in United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.
This is in recognition of the essential roles women have played in sustaining communities through the Las’Anod conflict, mobilizing for peace, documenting human rights violations, leading humanitarian responses, and keeping families and institutions afloat. Women are not symbolic actors. We are stakeholders with legitimate rights and indispensable expertise. The denial of women’s political participation undermines the credibility, sustainability, and justice of any governance structure that emerges from this process. It reproduces the same patriarchal power arrangements that have failed our people time and time again. We recall that the peace of SSC-Khatumo cannot be built on the silencing of women. Any process that excludes half the population is neither representative nor legitimate.
We therefore call for:
- Immediate inclusion of women peacebuilders, civil society, and community leaders in all SSC-Khatumo governance negotiations, essential architects of post-conflict stability, with no less than 30% representation in executive, legislative, and traditional decision-making bodies.
- The establishment of gender accountability mechanisms to ensure women’s participation is not symbolic but substantive, with influence over decisions that shape their lives and futures.
- The fulfillment of Somalia’s constitutional and international obligations to gender equality, including those enshrined in UNSCR 1325, the Federal Government’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the Somali Women’s Charter, and the Somali Provisional Constitution. .
Signed,
