Displacement of the Bajuni
Viewing the history of the displacement of the Bajuni people, from the 16th century to the impact of the Shifta conflict and the fall of Siad Barre.
When the Bajuni were attacked by the Orma – a semi nomadic pastoral community found in Somalia, Northern Kenya and Ethiopia – in the 16th century, they moved from the mainland to the adjacent islands. But given that they are agriculturalists they continued farming on the mainland notwithstanding the regular attacks by the Orma.
The insecurity that started in the 16th century was never resolved. In the 1960s, the concept of Greater Somalia was mooted leading to further displacement of the Bajuni as the Kenya government fought the Shifta secessionists.
The Bajuni are bitter with the way the Kenyan government handled the Shifta war, displacing them from their land and later settling upcountry people on their ancestral land.
Many Bajuni were also evicted from their settlement areas in Somalia after the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991. While some were placed in United Nations camps, others fled to integrate and live with relatives in Kenya. These displacements and movements have led to the loss of Bajuni cultural heritage.
When President Siad Barre of Somalia was overthrown, there were sharp interethnic tensions and violence between the Somali clans and also between Somali and other communities. With the invasion of the Islands and Bajuni mainland settlement, the Bajuni were displaced. Ethnic Somali moved to the Islands and thousands of Bajuni fled to Kenya and some settled in Malindi (Ngomeni) Mombasa (Kwa Jomvu, St. Anne’s), or North Eastern region (Liboi, Dadaab, Garissa, Kakuma etc.). They continued speaking Bajuni when it was safe to do so or standard Swahili, where possible. Speaking Bajuni in certain contexts would have led to them being harmed and they therefore suppressed their language.
The displacement of the Bajuni due to violence in Somalia led to a number of things. Whereas, prior to the violence, the language spoken did not have much exposure to different Swahili dialects, speakers were now exposed to other variants of Swahili, especially at the lexical level. Moreover, the stigmatization of the dialect because the Bajuni were viewed as poor and less educated in comparison to other communities led to fewer opportunities to use the language.
Over time, the language has shifted and it is getting lost. The younger generation do not view it as valuable because it does not lead to any economic opportunities and is socially stigmatized. Standard Swahili is taking over because it is taught in schools. However, Bajuni poets are keeping it alive in Somalia and in Kenya.