THE SOMALI BANTU PEOPLE // 10 SHOCKING FACTS

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Hi and welcome to the series on African tribes where I attempt to present facts about the various tribes of Africa. On one my recent expeditions on the web I came across a group that hardly anybody talks or knows about; especially here in Kenya. They speak Somali, their culture is Somali, they are mostly Muslim, they listen to Somali music and are Somali is every facet of life, but are not genetically Somali.
And these are the Bantu Somalis or in a more apt description, Somalis of Bantu extraction. Their story is truly sad and tragic. Their history and present reality in Somali made me weep for them, for it is full of misfortune. To be treated differently just because of hair texture and other superficial physical traits is quite unfortunate, yet these people have endured through it all with a steady resilience. Here are 10 facts about the Bantu Somalis you probably didn’t know.
1. The Somali Bantus are an ethnic group from Somalia, largely from the Shebelle and Jubba River valleys, in the South-western part of the country. They are the descendants of many Bantu ethnic groups primarily from the Niger-Congo region of Africa. Brought to Somalia in the 19th century by Arab slave traders, Bantus endured centuries of oppression in the horn of Africa as agricultural labourers.

2. Somali Bantu are primarily Muslim in their belief and practices. Women cover their arms and legs and wear the “hijab” (head covering) in public—and in the presence of unrelated males at home—this reflects the values of modesty and purity.
3. Bantu families often claimed membership in three of Somalia’s five major clans: Darood, Rahanweyn, and Hawiye clans. The objective behind this these efforts to integrate within the ethnic Somali clan system are so as to seek protection and alliances to further their collective interests.
4. During the civil war in Somalia, Somali Bantus were one of the most vulnerable groups and suffered horribly at the hands of clan militias and criminal gangs. Many have left Somalia.
The number of Somali Bantu inhabitants in Somalia before the civil war is thought to have been about 80,000 (1970 estimate), with most concentrated between the Jubba and Shabelle rivers in the south. However, recent estimates place the figure as high as 900,000 persons.
5. Most can speak Somali, in particular the Af Maay dialect as well as Zigua and Mashunguli.
6. Unlike Somalis, most of whom are traditionally nomadic herders; Bantus are mainly sedentary subsistence farmers.
7. The Somali Bantus are much more diverse than commonly presumed. Some had arrived thousands of years ago as migratory farmers and as “first people” predating the Somali expansion into Southern Somalia and another group that consists of individual brought as labourers during the Arab slave trade. These are the descendants of Bantu ethnic groups found in South and East Africa including Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.
8. All told, there has been very little co-mingling between Bantus and Somalis. Formal intermarriage is extremely rare, and typically results in ostracism the few times it does occur.
9. Prior to the United States' agreement to accommodate Bantu refugees from Somalia, attempts were made to resettle the refugees to their ancestral homes in Tanzania and Mozambique the two countries they regard as their ancestral home. Both countries refused to accommodate them citing the burden of accommodating the. Eventually though some were repatriated to Tanzania where they were given lands and granted citizenship. In 2003, the first Bantu immigrants began to arrive in U.S. cities, and by 2007, around 13,000 had been resettled to cities throughout the United States mostly in Atlanta, Columbus, Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh.

10. Meanwhile, several Bantus in Europe and Australia still dream of returning to Somalia to reclaim their properties which they lost to the war. They still call Somalia home despite the marginalization. As a marginalized group, the Bantu lack true representation in politics and access to government services, educational opportunities, and professional positions in the private sector.

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