Soon a Somali army is even besieging the city of Harar. But President Siad is betrayed by his chosen superpower. The Soviet Union sees a more important potential client in the new Ethiopia. Early in the Ethiopian army, using Soviet equipment and reinforced by troops from Cuba, recaptures the Ogaden. The result is the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees over the borders into Somalia. In the aftermath of this disaster guerrilla groups, clan-based and regional, are formed in and around Somalia with the intention of toppling Siad's repressive and centralizing regime.
By the result is full-scale civil war, resulting in the overthrow of Siad in He withdraws to the safety of his own clan, becoming one warlord among many in this increasingly chaotic nation. In the faction controlling the former British Somaliland confuses matters by declaring its independence as the republic of Somaliland.
Famine, the UN and continuing chaos: The conflict destroys Somalia's crops during and brings widespread famine. Food flown in by international agencies is looted by the warring militias. By December the situation is such that the UN actively intervenes, sending a force of 35, troops in Operation Restore Hope. The UN briefly calms the situation, persuading fifteen warring groups to convene in Addis Ababa in January for peace and disarmament talks.
These seem at first to make progress, but the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate. In March American and European units in the UN force withdraw, finding the level of casualties unacceptable. Troops from African countries and the Indian subcontinent remain in situ. During the rest of the decade the situation gets worse rather than better. From late the capital, Mogadishu, is divided between the two most powerful of the warring factions.
In each a leader declares himself the president of the nation and organizes a supposedly national government.
In March the remaining UN forces are evacuated from the coast under the protection of an international flotilla. Great Britain defeated Hassan in Italy maintained control of Italian Somaliland as a part of its African empire including Ethiopia and Eritrea until During WWII Great Britain also took over these areas and ruled them as military protectorates until , at which time the newly formed United Nations granted Italy a trusteeship over most of present-day Somalia.
The British maintained a trusteeship over what is today the self-declared state of Somaliland. While the Italians dedicated significant effort towards developing their colony, Great Britain took a more hands-off approach to governance, leaving more responsibility in the hands of local leaders but also providing less by way of infrastructure.
These distinctions are often cited as underpinnings of the incompatibility that would arise between the two areas. It is the Somali republic, in disarray in the early 21st century, that is popularly known as Somalia. The Somali people, sometimes portrayed as nomads who roamed the land until their encounter with Europeans, have been active participants in the affairs of the wider region, including the Asian side, as traders, seafarers, Muslim scholars, and immigrants since ancient times.
Later, as Muslims, after the introduction of Islam, they propagated their faith to areas farther south. Other Somalis wrote, also in Arabic, a number of religious eulogies manaaqib in praise of various saints.
Thus, Somalis produced Muslim scholars who wrote in Arabic, the liturgical language, just as medieval Europeans wrote in Latin, the language of the Roman Catholic Church. Most works on Somalia are anthropological and ethnographic studies; among these, Cerulli — provides a view of the pastoral institutions of mostly southern Somalia.
Cassanelli presents a view of Somali history from the 17th to the 19th centuries, whereas Hersi cited under the Arrival of Islam and the Development of Muslim City-States is a detailed account of Somali historical interactions with the Arab world and, as such, offers valuable information on Somali history since the introduction of Islam into Somalia.
Lewis gives an overview of Somali history from c. Finally, Nelson and Metz are collections of thematic essays related mainly to the situation of Somalia in the s and s, before the collapse of the state. Cassanelli, Lee V. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Written by a historian, this text offers a view of Somali history, especially in the South, during the period of Somali expansion there. Cerulli, Enrico. Siad Barre's new Western friends, especially the United States, which had replaced the Soviet Union as the main user of the naval facilities at Berbera, turned out to be reluctant allies.
Although prepared to help the Siad Barre regime economically through direct grants, World Bank-sponsored loans, and relaxed International Monetary Fund regulations, the United States hesitated to offer Somalia more military aid than was essential to maintain internal security. Western countries were also pressuring the regime to liberalize economic and political life and to renounce historical Somali claims on territory in Kenya and Ethiopia.
In response, Siad Barre held parliamentary elections in December A "people's parliament" was elected, all of whose members belonged to the government party, the SRSP. Following the elections, Siad Barre again reshuffled the cabinet, abolishing the positions of his three vice presidents. This action was followed by another reshuffling in October in which the old Supreme Revolutionary Council was revived.
The move resulted in three parallel and overlapping bureaucratic structures within one administration: the party's politburo, which exercised executive powers through its Central Committee, the Council of Minsters, and the SRC. The resulting confusion of functions within the administration left decision making solely in Siad Barre's hands.
He had responded to growing domestic criticism by releasing from detention two leading political prisoners, former premier Igaal and former police commander Abshir, both of whom had been in prison since On June 7, , apparently wishing to prove that he alone ruled Somalia, Siad ordered the arrest of seventeen prominent politicians. This development shook the "old establishment" because the arrests included Mahammad Aadan Shaykh, a prominent Mareehaan politician, detained for the second time; Umar Haaji Masala, chief of staff of the military, also a Mareehaan; and a former vice president and a former foreign minister.
At the time of detention, one official was a member of the politburo; the others were members of the Central Committee of the SRSP. The jailing of these prominent figures created an atmosphere of fear, and alienated some clans, whose disaffection and consequent armed resistance were to lead to the toppling of the Siad Barre regime.
Political insecurity was considerably increased by repeated forays across the Somali border in the Mudug and Boorama regions by a combination of Somali dissidents and Ethiopian army units. In mid-July , Somali dissidents with Ethiopian air support invaded Somalia in the center, threatening to split the country in two. The invaders managed to capture the Somali border towns of Balumbale and Galdogob, northwest of the Mudug regional capital of Galcaio.
The government declared a state of emergency in the war zone and appealed for Western aid to help repel the invasion. The United States government responded by speeding deliveries of light arms already promised. The new arms were not used to repel the Ethiopians, however, but to repress Siad Barre's domestic opponents.
Although the Siad Barre regime received some verbal support at the League of Arab States summit conference in September , and Somali units participated in war games with the United States Rapid Deployment Force in Berbera, the revolutionary government's position continued to erode. In December , Siad Barre sought to broaden his political base by amending the constitution.
One amendment extended the president's term from six to seven years. Another amendment stipulated that the president was to be elected by universal suffrage Siad Barre always received 99 percent of the vote in such elections rather than by the National Assembly.
The assembly rubber-stamped these amendments, thereby presiding over its own disenfranchisement. On the diplomatic front, the regime undertook some fence mending. An accord was signed with Kenya in December in which Somalia "permanently" renounced its historical territorial claims, and relations between the two countries thereafter began to improve. This diplomatic gain was offset, however, by the "scandal" of South African foreign minister Roelof "Pik" Botha's secret visit to Mogadishu that same month, where he promised arms to Somalia in return for landing rights for South African Airways.
This decision was impelled by the drought then ravaging the Ogaden and by a serious split within the WSLF, a number of whose leaders claimed that their struggle for self-determination had been used by Mogadishu to advance its expansionist policies. These elements said they now favored autonomy based on a federal union with Ethiopia.
This development removed Siad Barre's option to foment anti-Ethiopian activity in the Ogaden in retaliation for Ethiopian aid to domestic opponents of his regime. To overcome its diplomatic isolation, Somalia resumed relations with Libya in April Recognition had been withdrawn in in response to Libyan support of Ethiopia during the Ogaden War.
They agreed to hold further meetings, which took place on and off throughout Although Siad Barre and Mengistu agreed to exchange prisoners taken in the Ogaden War and to cease aiding each other's domestic opponents, these plans were never implemented. In August , Somalia held joint military exercises with the United States. Diplomatic setbacks also occurred in , however. The charge precipitated a diplomatic rift with Britain. The regime also entered into a dispute with Amnesty International, which charged the Somali regime with blatant violations of human rights.
Wholesale human rights violations documented by Amnesty International, and subsequently by Africa Watch, prompted the United States Congress by to make deep cuts in aid to Somalia. Economically, the regime was repeatedly pressured between and by the IMF, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Bank to liberalize its economy. Specifically, Somalia was urged to create a free market system and to devalue the Somali shilling so that its official rate would reflect its true value.
Repression Faced with shrinking popularity and an armed and organized domestic resistance, Siad Barre unleashed a reign of terror against the Majeerteen, the Hawiye, and the Isaaq, carried out by the Red Berets Duub Cas , a special unit recruited from the president's Mareehaan clansmen. Thus, by the beginning of Siad Barre's grip on power seemed secure, despite the host of problems facing the regime.
The president received a severe blow from an unexpected quarter, however. On the evening of May 23, he was severely injured in an automobile accident. Astonishingly, although at the time he was in his early seventies and suffered from chronic diabetes, Siad Barre recovered sufficiently to resume the reins of government following a month's recuperation. But the accident unleashed a power struggle among senior army commandants, elements of the president's Mareehaan clan, and related factions, whose infighting practically brought the country to a standstill.
Broadly, two groups contended for power: a constitutional faction and a clan faction. Opposed to the constitutional group were elements from the president's Mareehaan clan, especially members of his immediate family, including his brother, Abdirahmaan Jaama Barre; the president's son, Colonel Masleh Siad, and the formidable Mama Khadiija, Siad Barre's senior wife.
By some accounts, Mama Khadiija ran her own intelligence network, had well-placed political contacts, and oversaw a large group who had prospered under her patronage. In November , the dreaded Red Berets unleashed a campaign of terror and intimidation on a frightened citizenry.
Meanwhile, the ministries atrophied and the army's officer corps was purged of competent career officers on suspicion of insufficient loyalty to the president.
In addition, ministers and bureaucrats plundered what was left of the national treasury after it had been repeatedly skimmed by the top family. The same month, the SRSP held its third congress. The Central Committee was reshuffled and the president was nominated as the only candidate for another seven-year term.
Thus, with a weak opposition divided along clan lines, which he skillfully exploited, Siad Barre seemed invulnerable well into The regime might have lingered indefinitely but for the wholesale disaffection engendered by the genocidal policies carried out against important lineages of Somali kinship groupings.
These actions were waged first against the Majeerteen clan of the Daarood clan-family , then against the Isaaq clans of the north, and finally against the Hawiye, who occupied the strategic central area of the country, which included the capital. The disaffection of the Hawiye and their subsequent organized armed resistance eventually caused the regime's downfall. The coup failed and seventeen alleged ringleaders, including Usmaan, were summarily executed.
All but one of the executed were of the Majeerteen clan. During their preeminence in the civilian regimes, the Majeerteen had alienated other clans. The Red Berets systematically smashed the small reservoirs in the area around Galcaio so as to deny water to the Umar Mahamuud Majeerteen sub-clans and their herds. In Galcaio, members of the Victory Pioneers, the urban militia notorious for harassing civilians, raped large numbers of Majeerteen women.
In addition, the clan lost an estimated 50, camels, 10, cattle, and , sheep and goats. The Isaaq as a clan-family occupy the northern portion of the country. Three major cities are predominantly, if not exclusively, Isaaq: Hargeisa, the second largest city in Somalia until it was razed during disturbances in ; Burao in the interior, also destroyed by the military; and the port of Berbera.
The Isaaq felt deprived both as a clan and as a region, and Isaaq outbursts against the central government had occurred sporadically since independence.
Government forces bombarded the towns heavily in June, forcing the SNM to withdraw and causing more than , Isaaq to flee to Ethiopia. The military regime conducted savage reprisals against the Isaaq. The same methods were used as against the Majeerteen -- destruction of water wells and grazing grounds and raping of women. An estimated 5, Isaaq were killed between May 27 and the end of December About 4, died in the fighting, but 1,, including women and children, were alleged to have been bayoneted to death.
The Hawiye occupy the south central portions of Somalia. The capital of Mogadishu is located in the country of the Abgaal, a Hawiye subclan. In numbers the Hawiye in Somalia are roughly comparable to the Isaaq, occupying a distant second place to the Daarood clans. Southern Somalia's first prime minister during the UN trusteeship period, Abdullaahi Iise, was a Hawiye; so was the trust territory's first president, Aadan Abdullah Usmaan.
The first commander of the Somali army, General Daauud, was also a Hawiye. Although the Hawiye had not held any major office since independence, they had occupied important administrative positions in the bureaucracy and in the top army command.
In the late s, disaffection with the regime set in among the Hawiye who felt increasingly marginalized in the Siad Barre regime. From the town of Beledweyne in the central valley of the Shabele River to Buulobarde, to Giohar, and in Mogadishu, the clan was subjected to ruthless assault. Government atrocities inflicted on the Hawiye were considered comparable in scale to those against the Majeerteen and Isaaq.
By undertaking this assault on the Hawiye, Siad Barre committed a fatal error: by alienating the Hawiye, Siad Barre turned his last stronghold into enemy territory. Faced with saboteurs by day and sniper fire by night, Siad Barre ordered remaining units of the badly demoralized Red Berets to massacre civilians.
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