In 2025, community mediation centres across Somalia resolved more than 5,300 disputes, three times as many as the year before. These are some of the people and their stories behind that number.

FOUR YEARS OF SILENCE

In the remote village of Dhisaq Shurufle in Galmudug, a quarrel over land had divided two neighbouring families for four years. Armed young men had become part of the standoff. Fear had become routine.

“Our children no longer play together, and we are afraid to go near the disputed area,” a woman from the village said.

In November 2025, a mobile ADR clinic organized by Galmudug’s Ministry of Justice reached the village. A trained mediator sat with both families and walked them through a simple discipline called Nonviolent Communication: describe what happened without judgement, name how it feels, say what you need, and ask for something concrete.

For the first time in four years, both sides spoke and were heard. “I feel that my worries are heard, not ignored,” one participant said.

The families agreed to map the boundary together, share the land in the meantime, and ask a neutral elder to oversee a final settlement. Then the two family heads shook hands.

A JUSTICE SYSTEM PEOPLE CHOOSE

For most Somalis, justice has always begun with the elders. Customary law (xeer) and Sharia resolve far more disputes than the formal courts, which are few, slow and often far away.

Through the Joint Justice and Corrections Programme (JJCP), UNDP is helping these community mechanisms work better, and work with the courts rather than around them. Courts now refer civil cases to ADR centres, and ADR centres refer criminal cases to the courts.

ADR has filled gaps the courts could not for years. In 2021 in Dhahar, Puntland, a feud between two neighbouring families turned violent: four people were injured with knives and stones, and a court ruling went unenforced because neither side accepted it.

The police referred the case to the local ADR centre, which appointed a panel of three religious leaders and four elders. Over seven days the panel reviewed police and hospital records, then ordered compensation in camels for each injury and asked the elders of both families to guarantee peace between them. Both sides accepted the decision, and the centre registered it with the police and the court.

The results are measurable. In 2025, ADR centres supported by the programme resolved more than 5,300 cases, a rise of more than 200% on 2024. In South West State alone, ADR centres settled 1,170 civil cases, for 561 men and 609 women.

A HEARING IN GAROWE

ADR is not only for village land feuds. In Garowe, it settled a dispute between two powerful sides.

On one side was Saido, a 45-year-old businesswoman who supplies construction materials. On the other was a building company owned by Jabir Ali Farah. The company said goods Saido had supplied never reached its site. Saido said she was owed. Both had money, influence and people behind them. In Somalia, a business quarrel between parties like these can quickly stop being about business, and turn into a conflict that pulls in families and communities.

Instead, they took it to the ADR Centre. Twice the case came before two religious scholars, Sheikh Abdirizak and Sheikh Mohamoud. On 14 December 2025, it came before them for the last time.

Jabir Ali Farah sat with his advocate. Saido sat with a colleague. The sheikhs went back through the evidence, including records of payments. Saido could not name the driver who had collected the goods, but she could bring the invoices her shop’s system had recorded that day.

With the evidence still in question, the diputing parties turned to a last resort: an oath. "In Somali communities and in Islam, swearing before God is no formality. It is a solemn act, and a false oath is believed to carry grave consequences, so it is kept for matters of real weight," says Nabadoon (a traditional elder) Said Mohamed Osman. Saido was ready to swear to the US$ 5,731 dollars in dispute.

But before she could, traditional elder, Nabadoon Osman, stepped in. A sum like this, he said, was not worth an oath; the outstanding amount would be paid instead. The other side hesitated. But the talking went on, and the doubt gave way. Both parties agreed to settle, the oath was never taken, and the case was closed, with neither side humiliated.

“When two powerful parties fall out, the risk is not just a lost contract, it is conflict between communities. Our ADR centres give people a place they trust, guided by scholars and elders they respect, to settle disputes before they grow. That is why more people across Puntland are bringing their cases to us,” said Mohamed Jelle, a Senior Technical Advisor at the Minsitry of Justice, Puntland, who oversees the state's ADR centers.

There were no police in the room. Both parties come by choice, Sheikh Abdirizak explained, and if only one side agrees to take part, the case goes to the court instead. Serious crimes such as rape are never mediated.

“They come here voluntarily. Nobody forces them to come. We don’t use the word ‘accused’ here. Both are parties to a dispute,” said Sheikh Abdirizak, Garowe ADR Centre

NEW TOOLS FOR AN OLD TRADITION

Since 2023, more than 2,000 elders, youth, women and religious leaders have been trained as ADR mediators. Alongside customary practice, they now use restorative justice, generative dialogue and Nonviolent Communication.

The difference shows in how cases are handled. In Dhobley, a woman sold a piece of inherited family land, worth US$ 6,400, to pay for her child’s medical emergency. She acted alone, fearing her two brothers would refuse, and when they found out they felt betrayed.

Instead of ruling on who was right, the elders first met each sibling separately so each could speak safely. Then they brought them together. The brothers heard, for the first time, the urgency behind their sister’s decision. She heard their sense of exclusion. The brothers forgave her, and she promised to involve them in any future emergency.

A SEAT AT THE TABLE FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH

ADR was once almost entirely the domain of older men. That is changing. In Kismayo, women and young people now sit on the ADR committee and take part directly in deciding cases. Across the programme, 40% of training participants are women.

The programme’s dialogue sessions also create space for people who have rarely been heard. Amina Ali Nuur, 21, a community volunteer from a minority community in Baidoa, had carried the pain of exclusion silently for years. In a restorative dialogue session, she spoke about it in front of respected elders from the majority community, and they listened.

“For many years, I felt invisible because of where I came from. I carried my pain silently because I did not believe people would listen or understand.”

“The most powerful moment for me was seeing people from different backgrounds acknowledge my experience and show genuine care. I realized that healing is possible when people are willing to listen and stand together,” said Amina Ali Nuur, Baidoa.

Today Amina volunteers to help other women and minority community members find services and speak up about their concerns.

JUSTICE THAT HEALS

Every one of the 5,300 cases resolved in 2025 is a dispute that did not end in a courtroom years later, or in violence. Behind each is a family that kept its land, its relationships or its dignity.

“In Kismayo last month, I visited one of the many Alternative Dispute Resolution centres UNDP supports across Somalia. There I saw peacebuilding in action: elders, religious leaders and women elders sitting together to resolve grievances and address the root causes of conflict between communities. Centres like this one helped settle more than 5,300 disputes in 2025, and they are bringing community justice and the formal courts closer together. Access to justice and rights is at the heart of what the UN and UNDP offer Somalia. Investing in people, fairness and equality is how we build lasting peace and prosperity.” - Christophoros Politis, Resident Representative for UNDP in Somalia.