The regional capital is Garbaharey. The Marehan (Darod) dominate economically, politically, and militarily, rules across all districts.
The Marehan in Gedo are split between the guri ('original inhabitants') and the galti ('new settlers').[5]Guri-Galti conflicts over power and resources are common, especially in Luuq, Belet Hawo, and Baardhere.
Garbaharrey was the last refuge of deposed President Mohammed Siad Barre in early 1991, before he left the country for Nairobi and exile.[6] After 1991, the Somali National Front under Marehan Omar Haji Masale held large parts of the region for many years.[7] The militant religious group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) also rose to power in the region later in the 1990s, taking Luuq as its headquarters.[2] The Ethiopian National Defence Force then entered the area to attack AIAI's bases in 1996, and the Marehan clans split, either supporting or opposing the Ethiopian forces.[5] A peace conference to resolve the intra-Marehan disagreements was convened in 2004.
Major rivers in the Gedo region include the Dawa and the Jubba.
Education
The city of Garbahaarreey and the regions two ancient cities of Luuq and Bardera had education systems up to secondary level. There were some technical schools in Bardera and Garbaharreey, albeit without curriculum. They are connected through the Gedo Education Committee. All of Gedo region's high school graduates attended the Somali National University or affiliated institutions in Mogadishu.[citation needed]
Since the civil war in Somalia, Gedo became one of half dozen regions which have restarted higher education institutions in the country. Bardera Polytechnic, Gedo's first college, and University of Gedo, are both located in Bardera.
Demographics
According to a 1994 UNOSOM II estimate, the population of Gedo was about 590,000, the majority of the population being from the Marehan. Other estimates varied considerably; two reports by the United Nations Development Office for Somalia issued in the same year, 1995, gave very different estimates: 330,000 and about 1 million.[11]
The economy mostly depends on livestock and farming but the Gedo region has strong interregional and international cross-border trade with Kenya and some extent with Ethiopia. Trade between Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia allowed the Gedo region to be economically stable for the years before the UN intervention and afterwards. The 1998 Nordic Fact Finding Mission prepared a report in Gedo region and found some encouraging economic figures. Davidson College assistant professor Ken Menkhaus said that "Traders in Gedo region made more profit than, for instance, those in Hargeisa, in north-western Somalia."[13] Trade going through the border between the three countries were ongoing despite the raging civil war in Somalia for much of the 1990.
Government
Gedo region has a 32-member assembly body. The members are directly elected from the seven districts of the region with proportionality according to district population. The Gedo assembly or (Gollaha Gobalka Gedo) works with the federal government based in Mogadishu. Regional level posts include:[citation needed]
Governor
Vice Governor
Inter-Regional Affairs Director
Director of Security Services
Gedo Regional Police Commander
Director of Education Services
Director of Agricultural Agency
Director of Economic Affairs
Livestock and Forestry Dept. Director
Director of Justice and Religious Affairs
After long conflicts in the region, the regional elders started a peace conference with initiatives from the then governor, Aden Ibrahim Aw Hirsi.[citation needed] This effort ended in success. and were followed by the elections of the regional assembly. The process was financed by UNDP.[citation needed]
In addition to regional posts, the Federal Government of Somalia maintains military forces in the region. Brigade 9 of Division 60 (Somalia) was reported in the region as of 2016, originating from a U.S.-funded pilot programme began in 2012.[14]
Cities and towns
Bardera and Beled Haawo cities are the two principal cities of the Gedo region. In the recent past, Luuq or Lugh used to be the main political city of Gedo Region but the Somali Civil War made many of the city's residents to flee to other towns.
Bardera, the largest city and the seat of the most populous district in Gedo, has become urbanized to the extent that its population multiplied 400% since the breakdown of law and order in the capital of the country, Mogadishu. Aside from the urban population in proper Bardera, the rest of the region's population are pastoralists with the exception of people living in the cities where the region's seven district seats are located. The town is home to Bardera Polytechnic as well as the University of Gedo which also has a campus at Beled Haawo.
Somalia
