Bay (Somalia)

Bay ( also Baay written; Arab باي Bay) is a region ( Gobolka ) in southern Somalia with about one million inhabitants. Its capital is Baidoa, which is also the seat of the transitional government of Somalia since 2005.

More cities will be Buurhakaba and Dinsor where a health center for 650,000 people located in the area. The cities mentioned also give each their districts the name; more districts are Qasahdhere and Ufurow. The region lies between the two great rivers of Somalia, the Jubba and the Shabeelle, but which does not flow through Bay itself.

Bay is one of the more densely populated areas of Somalia. The residents of Bay mostly belong to the Somali clan of Rahanweyn, besides also the Hawiye and smaller minorities are represented. Main livelihood of the population is rainfed agriculture, combined with sedentary livestock ( Agropastoralismus ). The dominant language is the Maay dialect of Somali.

History

In the beginning of the Somali civil war operated in the early 1990s various warring parties in the region. This led to looting and abuses against the local population. The peasant Rahanweyn in Bay were particularly affected by such attacks, as they have traditionally been regarded by sections of the rest of Somali society as inferior and had relatively few weapons to fight back. As a result, Bay was among the most affected by the famine areas 1991-1993; then should be starved in the region around Baidoa about half a million people.

1995 conquered the Hawiye warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid Baidoa and deposed the local Rahanweyn local government. Then the Rahanweyn Resistance Army ( RRA) was formed, reconquered large parts of the Rahanweyn area in Bay and Bakool in the adjacent and since then is a major political force in the region. Furthermore, Baidoa and the rest of the Bay between different clans and warlords were contested. After initial hostility, the RRA of the transitional government of Somalia formed in 2000 followed, which has since 2005 their makeshift headquarters in Baidoa.

2006, there was heavy fighting in Bay between troops of the transitional government and Ethiopia and the Union of Islamic Courts. The Union had the transitional government meanwhile pushed back to a small area around Baidoa, before she in turn was ousted in late 2006 by the advancing Ethiopian troops.