APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 10 10 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL tional aspects of customary law that emphasize interdependence as a people and finding constructive ways to maintain that relationship. Somaliland customary law appeared to reach its apex in the 1990s, when its values and practices were used at conferences to transform war into peace, or at a minimum, a cease-fire. Negotiations took place between male leaders, whose gatherings were open to all adults. Women supported these processes, often demonstrating and lobbying for specific points or pushing for changes in emerging outcomes. Although the elder’s problem-solving methods prevailed, the agreements reached did not always hold. Regardless, basing their decisions on precedent and adjusting to current realities, they eventually helped stop the fighting between clans, allowing for reconciliation conferences at the inter-clan level.40 In the years following independence, Somaliland did not have a strong government. Therefore, elders were frequently called upon to resolve conflicts and take on administrative and security functions. One of the most significant of these local, but nationally important, conflicts concerned the port city of Berbera. The elders led a negotiation process that confirmed the port’s status as a public asset, ensuring that future Somaliland governments would be able to extract from it a source of revenue with which to build an effective administration. The conference also proved significant in elevating the status of elders because it established a framework for the Guurti to become an integral part of the new government’s legislative assembly. It was charged with controlling clan militia, fighting between clans and sub-clans, and defending Somaliland.41 The importance of the Guurti remains evident in Somaliland’s current governance structure, but for some it is losing credibility because of a perception that it is too close to the president and that its process of elder selection does not follow traditional patterns. In addition, the economic and political forces at work in Somaliland have engaged the traditional sectors in broader, urban-based and top-down socio-political realities and structures. Some criticize the Guurti for competing for status in this new hierarchy and abandoning its traditional and collectivistic role of regulating social life, managing resources, and resolving conflicts.42 Aquils, sultans, and odays at other levels of society, but particularly in the urban context, are experiencing similar criticism, often from within their ranks. Further complicating the elders�� role and status in society is that ‘conflicts come up again and again . . . [because] the [conflict resolution] mechanisms used by the elders do not prevent the crime, they only manage the resolution once the crime has been committed’.43 This statement represents part of a growing critique of traditional problemsolving approaches: The process is structured to end conflict in the short term, that is, 40. H. Yusuf and Robin Le Mare, ‘Clan elders as conflict mediators: Somaliland’ in P. van Tongeren et al. (eds.), People Building Peace II: Successful Stories of Civil Society (Boulder, Colorado, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005). 41. A. Farah and I. Lewis, ‘Somalia: The roots of reconciliation. Peace making endeavours of contemporary lineage leaders—A survey of grassroots peace conferences in Somaliland’, ACTIONAID, London, 1993. 42. Hashi, ‘Implications of traditional leadership’. 43. Interview, Mubarik Ibrahim, researcher, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Hargeisa, 25 March 2008.