APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 1 Integrating Principles and Practices of Customary Law, Conflict Transformation, and Restorative Justice in Somaliland Barry Hart and Muhyadin Saed In Somaliland, customary law is primarily used to resolve clan and sub-clan conflicts and address certain criminal issues. After years of civil war, peace was established in Somaliland in May 1991 through the use of principles and practices of customary law. Examination of customary law’s relationship to international conflict transformation and restorative justice theory and practice is in the early stages. An integration of these methods of change needs further exploration for the purpose of informing local and global problem solving and the application of justice. The values that underlie these practices necessitate that special attention be paid to the potential bridge that restorative justice might provide between Somaliland’s customary law and civil law. DUE TO CHANGING SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND economic realities in Somaliland, particularly in urban areas, customary law is undergoing a period of adjustment.1 Though still widely used, its approaches for dealing traditionally with conflicts over the spilling of blood, camel raiding, pasture and well use, and women 1. Prior to becoming a British protectorate, Somaliland had two legal systems: customary law and Islamic, or sharia, law. These legal systems worked together to regulate civil and religious life, with the former holding greater sway in everyday matters. As a result of the British presence (1884–1960), Somaliland adopted statutory or codified law, as well as British common law, which emphasizes court decisions more than statues or codes. For details, see Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, 2d edn (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995). After independence in 1960, when Somaliland briefly merged with the southern part of Somalia formerly referred to as Italian Somalia, its legal system was altered so that ‘common law was overruled by the civil law tradition’. Civil law gives judges more freedom in interpreting statutes, with less emphasis placed on prior court decisions. See Mohamed Farah Hersi, ‘Research guide to the Somaliland legal system’, February 2009, 2.1.3 customary law, www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/somali land.htm#. Barry Hart is a professor of trauma, identity, and conflict studies at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. He has worked extensively in the Balkans and West Africa as well as in Somaliland, where he helped develop the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Hargeisa. Muhyadin Saed is the lead researcher in conflict resolution at the University of Hargeisa. He received a postgraduate diploma from the university’s Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Linda Lavender in the development of this article. Africa Peace and Conflict Journal, 3:2 (2010), 1–17. © 2010 University for Peace Africa Programme. All rights reserved. ISSN 1659–3944.