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Independent Somalia was characterized from the
beginning by strong tensions between the north and the
south. In the 1960s several elections were held, but in
1969 the military took power in a coup. Mohamed Siad
Barre's regime formed a close bond with the Soviet
Union. In 1977, Somali troops entered Ethiopia to try to
conquer Ogaden, but Somalia suffered a stinging defeat.
In 1991, Siad Barre was forced out of power. Many years
of political chaos followed, where clan-based militia
groups fought each other.
Peace talks led to the formation of a
transitional government in 2004, but the violence
continued. UIC, a new Islamist group that took power in
Mogadishu in 2006, was overthrown after six months by
the transitional regime supported by the Ethiopian
military. However, for a few years the militant al-Shabaab
managed to take control of large parts of southern and
central Somalia, before the Islamist militia was forced
back with the help of an African peace force.
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ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Somalia. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
Fragile democracy
In a referendum after independence in 1960, it was
decided that Somalia would have parliamentary rule with
universal suffrage. Foreign policy would be neutral and
alliance-free. But it was not easy to reconcile the
former Italian and British territories with their
different political traditions (the British had largely
allowed local leaders to retain their positions, while
the Italians had tried to limit their influence). In the
early years, politicians dominated from the south, which
led to the people of the north feeling disadvantaged.
Since the country's leaders, in orderly form, were
replaced after a parliamentary election in 1964 and an
(indirect) presidential election in 1967, similar
complaints came from southern Somalia instead.
 When Somalis in Ethiopia and Kenya wanted to join the
Republic of Somalia, this was welcomed by all Somali
leaders. Relations with neighboring countries were
sometimes tense. Border war was fought with Kenya in
1963 and 1967 and with Ethiopia in 1963-1964. Since
agreements with both Kenya and Ethiopia were concluded
in 1967, tensions towards the outside world eased, but
then they increased instead in the country. The economy
stagnated and the governing bodies were accused of
corruption and slanderous politics.
In the 1969 parliamentary elections, 64 clan-based
parties lined up. Victory made the Somalia Youth League
whose position was strengthened by the fact that many
members from other parties jumped to the party after the
election. Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal remained
in power despite allegations of electoral fraud, but the
president, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, was assassinated
after the election. For the military, under Major
General Mohamed Siad Barre, the murder became a pretext
to seize power in a bloodless coup in October. The
country's name was changed to the Democratic Republic of
Somalia.
One-party state after Soviet model
Siad Barre came to rule the country for just over two
decades, initially at the head of a Supreme
Revolutionary Council that immediately banned the clan
system. Siad Barre formed a close bond with the Soviet
Union and built up his rule according to the Soviet
model. Banks and corporations were nationalized, and in
1975 all land was nationalized. The year before, Somalia
had joined the Arab League. In 1976, a one-party system
was introduced. All important political and military
items went to Siad Barre's own clan, Darod.
In 1977, Somali troops entered Ethiopian Ogaden,
largely inhabited by Somalis. But now Ethiopia was also
affiliated with the Soviet Union. The war led to a sharp
end to Somalia's cooperation with Moscow, which was
party to the larger country. In 1978, Ethiopia, with
Cuban help, drove Somalia's troops. Siad Barre was now
seeking support from the United States and other Western
countries.
The backlash of the Ogaden war hit the economy hard
and dissatisfaction with the regime grew. Several
opposition groups were formed, including the
Democratic Front for the Rescue of Somalia (DFSS),
and the Somali National Movement (SNM), both of
which had their base among clans in the northwest and
were initially supported by Ethiopia. Several revolts
erupted, and when SNM revolted in the former British
Somaliland in 1988, the army responded by bombing the
cities of Hargeisa and Burao. About 40,000 people were
killed and about 400,000 Somalis fled to Ethiopia.
This increased support for SNM and contributed to
Siad Barre promising multi-party. But, step by step, the
regime lost control of the country. Members of the
Hawaiian clan formed in exile in Italy the United
Somali Congress (USC). After fierce fighting in and
around the capital, USC militia Siad Barre forced to
flee to his home region in the southwest in January
1991.
For now, USC has claimed power. Its Mogadishu faction
appointed Ali Mahdi Mohamed as president, but he did not
even control the entire capital. Darod and Issaq
Somalis, many of whom are related to Siad Barre's
regime, were looted on their property and fled. In
northwestern Somalia, SNM's leadership proclaimed an
independent state, the Republic of Somaliland.
Also in the south, fighting was ongoing, including
control over the port city of Kismayo.
Clan battles create chaos, starvation disaster
requires 100,000 lives
About twenty clan militia were now trying to take
control of as large areas as possible. Many Somalis who
belonged to clans with weak militias or who were outside
the clan system were expelled from their areas. Within
USC, the contradictions between Ali Mahdi and General
Mohamed Farah "Aidid" grew. Mogadishu was divided into
two zones: a northern controlled by Ali Mahdi and a
southern controlled by Aidid. The Civil War 1991-1992
required 35,000 civilian casualties in Mogadishu alone.
In April 1992, the UN Security Council decided on
humanitarian action, since relief organizations warned
of a famine disaster. When UN troops arrived at the end
of the year, the entire country was divided into areas
controlled by clan militia. The UN passed a ceasefire in
Mogadishu, but Aidid strengthened its position by
backing an invasion attempt by Siad Barre, who fled the
country.
The fighting made it difficult to assist the civilian
population in the Mogadishu area, and Aidid and other
warlords made the relief efforts more difficult to
strengthen their own position. Hundreds of thousands of
people starved to death from mid-1991 to the end of
1992. With an upset opinion in the back, the United
States, in agreement with the United Nations - against
the advice of many relief organizations - decided on a
United States-led UN operation. The Americans were also
concerned by reports that militant Islamists were
gaining influence in Somalia.
The UNaf unit Unitaf consisted mostly of over 30,000
men. Of these, 24,000 were American elite soldiers. It
soon became clear that the operation was well thought
out. The United States wanted to restrict it to the
protection of humanitarian operations, while the UN
preferred that Unitaf also disarm the warring groups.
Soon UN soldiers ended up in regular battles with
Somalis.
In the spring of 1993, a new UN operation, Unosom
II, was launched, which meant that for the
first time the UN entered into a civil war to force
peace, without the consent of the parties. The US saw
Aidid as the main obstacle to peace and a US special
forces was deployed to capture him. In the fall of 1993,
several hundred Somalis and 18 Americans were killed in
fighting, but Aidid escaped.
The US and UN forces leave the country
The United States officially withdrew from Somalia in
1994 and the last UN soldiers left the country the
following year. Aidid was elected by his own USC faction
to interim president. However, he was injured in a fire
and died the following year. He was succeeded by his
son, Hussein Mohamed Aidid, who was previously a US Navy
soldier.
After years of failed peace talks, Djibouti President
Ismaļil Omar Guelleh succeeded in gathering around 400
Somalis from clan militia as well as the old state
administration and civil society in 2000. However,
neither Somaliland nor Puntland participated. After
three months, the conference elected a clan-based
parliament, which in turn appointed Abdikassim Salat
Hassan as president. The Provisional Government (TNG)
was welcomed by war-weary Somalis, but clan leaders, who
felt their own power threatened, refused to acknowledge
TNG. After a short time, the government force was drawn
into the military war and became little more than
another faction in the Somali power struggle.
Transitional government is created by peace
agreement
The East African cooperation organization Igad in
2002 initiated new peace talks held this time in Kenya.
15 of Somalia's 20 factions participated, as did TNG,
representatives of Somalis in exile and various civilian
groups. After two years of bitter power struggles, an
agreement was signed in January 2004 between all major
warlords and clan leaders to form a transitional
parliament with 550 members.
But the violence in Somalia did not stop and in the
autumn of 2004 Parliament was held its first session in
Nairobi, Kenya. Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed of the Darod clan
was elected president despite some accusing him of war
crimes. In the new government, several warlords sat,
including Hussein Mohamed Aidid as Minister of the
Interior.
Both Kenya and the UN pushed for the government to
move to Somalia and the African Union (AU) promised to
send troops to help it establish itself in its home
country. The issue of foreign troops was also sensitive
within the government. Only in June 2005 did the
transitional regime move to Somalia, but due to the
precarious situation in the capital, Parliament was
first abandoned in a few smaller cities west of
Mogadishu.
Islamists take over in Mogadishu
At the same time, the Islamic Courts Union (UIC)
managed to create some order in Mogadishu. The UIC had
grown out of about ten Muslim clandestine courts in the
capital, with the support of local businessmen. Their
growing influence was seen as a threat by the warlords
who had previously controlled Mogadishu. In the spring
of 2006, fighting broke out between the UIC militia
groups and the Alliance for Peace and Fight against
International Terrorism (ARPCT) formed by several
warlords. Clans who had previously been at odds with
each other agreed to fight the Islamists. However,
information that the US assisted ARPCT increased support
for the UIC. Reports also surfaced that Ethiopian troops
were in Baidoa to protect the transitional government.
On June 5, 2006, the UIC claimed to have mastered the
entire Mogadishu. For the first time in many years there
was a relative calm in the capital. Islamist militia now
took control of increasingly large parts of southern and
central Somalia, in many cases without any fighting.
Following pressure from the Arab League, peace talks
began in Sudan in 2006 between the transitional
government and the Islamists who renamed the Somali
Islamic Courts Council (SSICC). Despite some
progress, tensions within the country rose. In
Mogadishu, the fierce forces in the SSICC, al-Shabaab,
dominated Eritrea with weapons. The West and Ethiopia
saw its takeover of power as solely negative and chose
not to support moderate forces such as Sharif Sheikh
Ahmed.
In December 2006, the United Nations Security
Council, on the advice of the United States, voted for
an AU force, Amisom, to be sent to Somalia to protect
the transitional regime. The resolution stated that no
neighboring countries were allowed to participate, but
the Ethiopian troops already in the country were not
mentioned.
The Islamist regime is overthrown with Ethiopian
help
Shortly thereafter, fighting broke out. By the end of
2006, the transitional government and the Ethiopian
forces were able to enter Mogadishu, which gave up
without resistance. Many of the SSICC leaders fled
abroad and the organization dissolved. However, militant
Islamists returned to the metropolitan area to fight the
new regime.
The Islamists and some clan militia now had a common
goal: to force Ethiopia to leave the country. Sharif
Sheikh Ahmed, but also warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid
traveled to Eritrea, where they formed the Alliance
for Somalia's New Liberation (ARS).
The first Amisom soldiers arrived from Uganda in the
first half of 2007, and also became a target for the
Islamists. Clashes occurred in several parts of the
country and hundreds of thousands of people were
displaced. At the same time that many Somalis became
dependent on emergency aid, the violence meant that aid
organizations were becoming increasingly difficult to
assist the population.
In June 2008, talks started between the transitional
government and a faction of the ARS in Djibouti, leading
to a ceasefire. The parties also agreed that UN troops
should be sent to Somalia and that the Ethiopian
soldiers should leave. Later that year it was agreed to
give the ARS faction a seat in the government and the
transition parliament.
A power struggle within the government led to the
resignation of President Yussuf at the end of 2008.
Former UIC leader Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected in
January 2009 as new president of the transition
parliament.
Around the turn of the year 2008/2009, the Ethiopian
troops left Somalia step by step. Faithful troops,
including Amisom, then controlled only parts of the
metropolitan area. Various Islamist groups, in
particular al-Shabaab, covered more and more areas. In
2010, the militia controlled most of southern and
central Somalia.
Over time, criticism grew against the president, who
was accused of incompetence and corruption. Ministers
who were part of strong business networks were said to
have enriched themselves, while the government had done
nothing to improve the living conditions of ordinary
Somalis.
The AU force was gradually strengthened, but apart
from Uganda, only Burundi had sent troops. As revenge
for Uganda's role in Somalia, al-Shabaab conducted a
suicide attack in Uganda's capital Kampala in July 2010,
demanding some seventy deaths.
From late autumn 2010, Africa's horns were hit by the
most severe drought in 60 years. The situation in
Somalia was aggravated by the precarious situation and
by the fact that al-Shabaab banned a number of Western
aid organizations from working in areas controlled by
the group. Another factor that hampered the relief
efforts was US fears that money and food could end up
with al-Shabaab.
Finally, the disaster became so extensive that in
July 2011 al-Shabaab lifted its ban on Western aid
organizations. However, the way the Islamist group
handled the hunger issue was considered to have weakened
it and al-Shabaab left Mogadishu in August of that year.
According to the UN, nearly 260,000 people, many of them
children, had died by 2012.
In the fall of 2011, Kenya entered Somalia with
troops (see Foreign Policy and Defense) and Ethiopia
also participated openly in the fighting against
al-Shabaab, which was forced to retreat. The militia
struck back with attacks, both in Mogadishu and in other
parts of the country.
Roadmap to democracy
As the transition regime's mandate was about to
expire, the parties agreed in the fall of 2011 on a
"road map" that would step by step lead to the election
of a new parliament and a new president, and that
Somalia would be given a new constitution. A group of
135 clan elders appointed members of a constituent
assembly which in August 2012 approved a provisional
constitution. Later that month, the Assembly appointed
members of a new parliament (see Political system).
In September of that year, the new parliament elected
political activist Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as new
president. He defeated, by a good margin, the incumbent
president. Before the election, Sheikh Mohamud had
promised general elections for 2016.
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