Somali independence and beyond: the five key moments

Somali Prime Minister Abdurashid Ali Shermarke (R) shakes hands with President Aden Abdullah Osman Daar (L) in Mogadishu on June 26, a few days before the proclamation of the Republic of Somalia, on July 1. AFP PHOTO

Text by: Tirthankar Chanda Follow

Sixty years ago the Republic of Somalia was born. One of the most homogeneous states of tropical Africa by language and religion, this nation sank barely thirty years after its independence in an endless crisis, against a backdrop of clan rivalries, mafia phenomena and irredentism as the only political project. Back in five dates on the main stages of the descent into hell of this great country of the Horn of Africa.

Publicity

Read more

1960 : Independence, choice of a strong central state and irredentism

New Somalia was born at the end of a process of decolonization which began at the end of the Second World War in cooperation with the two former colonial powers, namely England at the helm in its protectorate of Somaliland in the north and Italy which was back in his former colony in the south, from 1949, under a UN trusteeship agreement.

On June 26, 1960, British Somaliland proclaimed independence. Four days later, Italian Somalia in turn gained independence and merged with the North, according to a convention previously established. The constitution adopted by the new state provided for unicameral parliamentary democracy and election by universal suffrage. The union government, made up of "  southerners  " and "  northerners,   " was immediately divided over the shape of the future Somali state. The dilemma was resolved during the 1961 referendum, with the more southerners who won the election and imposed their preference for a centralizing state against the federalism demanded by their fellow citizens in the North.

Source: National Geospatial Agency *. (CC)

The fact remains that for the first time in Somali history, a state brings together the majority of this people, under a single five-branched flag representing the five historic regions of Somalia: the former British Somaliland and Italian Somalia, the French Somali Coast (now Djibouti), the Ogaden and the Hawd (under Ethiopian administration), as well as the Northern Frontier District of Kenya. But the flag of the new state recalls that the unity of all Somalis was not achieved. The government's irredentist aims were at the origin of the first border conflict with Ethiopia which broke out in 1963. At the same time, the deterioration of relations with Kenya and with the French colony of Djibouti (which gained independence in 1977) led to the diplomatic isolation of Mogadishu in the region. The Somali government's attempt to put irredentism to sleep by normalizing relations with neighbors was undoubtedly not unrelated to the defeat of the first President of the Republic Aden Abdullah Osman Dar in the 1967 election. It was won by Abdi Rashid Ali Shemarke.

1969: Military coup and the beginnings of the country's drift

On October 15, 1969, President Shemarke was assassinated by a soldier in his presidential guard, out of "clan" revenge. Taking advantage of the state's fragility, the Somali army overthrew the government on October 21, 1969 and General Siyaad Barré , appointed by the Supreme Revolutionary Council, took power. The new head of state sets up a strong regime, relying on senior army officers to form his administration. He arrested the main political leaders and dispersed the Parliament. Somalia becomes the Democratic Republic of Somalia, close to the USSR, and adopts "scientific socialism" as a doctrine of government.

If the initial objectives displayed by the military power, to combat the corruption and the clan factor which have poisoned Somali political life since independence, ensure the popularity of the regime in the first years of its existence, popular support will not survive the successive droughts which ruined the Somali economy in the 1970s and especially not the failure of the offensive launched in July 1977 by General Siad Barré to conquer the Ogaden, an Ethiopian region partially populated by Somalis. The reversal of the Soviet Union's alliance in favor of the Ethiopian regime in Mengistu is the main cause of the defeat of the Somali army. His withdrawal marks a halt to the expansionist ambition of the head of state, which is felt as a betrayal by officers who attempted several coups in the years 1978-81.

Poster in Mogadishu of Mahammad Siad Barre, a revolutionary leader of Somalia, deposed in 1991 Courtesy Hiram A. Ruiz / Library of Congress / Public Domain

These military and economic setbacks, added to the growing frustration among the population, lead to a hardening of the regime, increasing its dependence on the presidential clan group. Consequence: exacerbation of internal rivalries in the leading groups, sowing the seeds of the breakup of the country to come. The opposition to the central power hardens with the exclusion of the government, the army and the distribution of the pre-legends of the majerteen and isaaq clans of the North, for the benefit of the mareehan from which the head of state came. Internationally, deprived of Soviet aid following his unfortunate Ogaden adventure, Siyaad Barré turns to the United States, but Washington refuses to bail out a lost power, adrift, corrupt and involved in massacres of its own citizens. At the end of the 1980s, diplomatically isolated, and losing momentum in the Center and the South where rival powers had taken control, the regime was hard pressed.

1991: fall of Siad Barré and towards the atomization of Somalia

On January 24, 1991, Siad Barré managed to escape from his palace, while the capital was stormed by rebels fighting against the central power. Mogadishu is the scene of intense fighting between the militias and the loyal forces which will be driven south towards the port city of Kismayo. The fighting completely destroys several districts of the capital. It is the final end of the dictatorship, but the fall of Siad Barré releases the last obstacles which prevented the atomization of Somalia.

The capital Mogadishu before the civil war. (Illustration) STUART PRICE / AU-UN IST PHOTO / AFP

Warlords have shared the country since the fall of Siad Barré, at the mercy of the ceaseless reorganization of the kaleidoscope of alliances. Artisans of the civil war, the majority of these movements were born in the 1980s in the context of growing tensions between traditional groups, accentuated by  Siad Barré's policy of "  divide and rule ". Among these different movements, three will play a major role, registering in the long term within the Somali political spectrum.

First, the United Somali Congress (USC) led by General Aidid, Ogaden veteran and army chief. It was USC troops who fled Siyaad Barré, taking possession of the capital. Second, we see emerging in the North, the Somali National Movement, a movement born in the Somali diaspora in Great Britain. Under its aegis, the northern region proclaimed itself independent in May 1991 within the borders of the former British colony of Somaliland. Finally, established in the northeast of the country, forming the backbone of the Puntland region which also proclaimed itself an autonomous region in 1998, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) was the third movement which was one pedestals with the current breakdown of Somalia.

1991 was a turning point. It marks the end of the Somali State, barely thirty years after its creation.

1992-1995: failure of the first major international intervention

The ravages of the civil war which mainly hit the south of the country and the capital led international humanitarian organizations to intervene massively from 1991. It was in response to the degraded security situation in Somalia, coupled with famines and epidemics which threatened the 700,000 people, that the first UN mission was launched in April 1992. The difficulties encountered by the Pakistani contingent deployed in the Somali capital within the framework of UNOSOM lead the American government of President George Bush father to decide on a military intervention on Somali soil. Thus, on December 9, 1992, UNITAF (United Allied Forces) landed in Somalia as part of an operation called Restore Hope , which would mobilize up to 40,000 men, three-quarters of whom provided by the United States.

WFP believes that Somalia "is undoubtedly the country in the Horn of Africa with the greatest humanitarian needs, particularly in terms of food aid". Reuters / Omar Faruk

In April 1993, ONUSOM II was launched, but the effort undertaken by the United Nations to protect the transportation of food in a country plagued by civil war could not be sustained, in particular because of the American will to withdraw its forces . This withdrawal decision followed the well-publicized events of October 3 and 4, 1993, during which two American helicopters were shot down by Somali militias, causing numerous deaths and injuries within the international coalition. It turns out that the peace mission had turned into a campaign of struggle between the international forces and the Somali warlords. The mandate of UNOSOM will abruptly end in March 1995.

The results of this international operation were catastrophic "  marking Somalia with a status of"  failed State  "without future and too mired in internal problems to allow aid  ", wrote a French researcher (1). Somalia is now on its own. On the ground, the withdrawal of international forces leaves the field open to the warlords, who will henceforth play a preponderant role in the continuation of the civil war.

The 2000s: the rise of radical Islamism

It is in the context of chaos and insecurity that reigns the warlords, who are linked with mafiosi and brigands of all kinds, that Islamist movements begin to gain importance in the Somali chessboard. . Founded in the late 1990s, the Union of Islamic Courts (UTI) conquered from 2005 a large part of the national territory, before taking control of Mogadishu in July 2006. However in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks, the he rise of the UTI worries the regional powers, in particular Ethiopia. In 2006, the Ethiopian army launched a vast offensive on Somali territory, with significant support from the United States, in order to oust the Islamists from their positions.

Members of a Shebab militia in the streets of Mogadishu on October 30, 2009. AFP / M. Dahir

Operation successful, but the fall of the UTI favors the rise in power in the country of the more radical Islamist mobilities such as the shebabs which control from 2009 a large part of Mogadishu as well as the center and the south of the country. Well organized, funded by international jihadist networks, these religious fundamentalists have taken root in the population with brilliant handling of both intimidation and protection. But if the restoration of order and security in a country sinking into chaos is appreciated by the business community, suicide attacks perpetrated by supporters of the movement are worrying. The Somali forces, with the support of the African force Amisom, which has been deployed in the country since 2010 -, succeed in driving the Islamist Shebabs out of Mogadishu, but the latter still control 20% of the territory, especially in rural areas. The threat of the attacks, but also that of a greater and formal fragmentation of the country with the international recognition of the autonomous regions (Somaliland, Puntland, Jubaland ...) hovers today in Mogadishu over the celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of independent Somalia.

(1) "  The Somali crisis. Fifty years of independence and twenty years of crisis  ”, by François Guiziou, in Afri, volume XII, 2011, site of the Center Thucydide. Also read: "  Somalia, the interminable crisis   ", by Jean-Christophe Mabire, in Hérodote 2002/4 (n ° 111).

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Africa
  • History
  • Somalia
  • Somaliland
  • African Independence Day

On the same subject

Somalia celebrates 60 years of divisive independence

Somalia will not be able to hold elections by universal suffrage on time

Fight against shebabs in Somalia: Americans scratch authorities