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The Country & People of Somalia |
This page contains links to sites in Somalia and Somalia related sites.
For Middle East, North Africa, Arab and regional information visit Arab Countries
History
Muslim Arabs and Persians established trading posts along Somalia's coasts from the 7th to 10th cent., and Somali warriors joined Muslim sultanates in their battles with Christian Ethiopia in the 15th and 16th cent. Britain, France, and Italy began to dominate the region in the 19th cent. Britain established a protectorate in 1887 and concluded an agreement with France in 1888 defining their Somali possessions. Italy created a small protectorate in 1889, added territory in the south, and in 1925 detached Jubaland from Kenya. Somali-speaking districts of Ethiopia were combined with Italian Somaliland in 1936 to form Italian East Africa. Britain conquered Italian Somaliland in World War II, and renamed Somalia, it gained internal autonomy in 1956 and independence and unification with British Somaliland in 1960. The presence of some 350,000 Somalis in neighboring countries stirred demands for a Greater Somalia, and fighting erupted with Ethiopia in 1964 over the Ogaden region, which Somalia claims.
In 1969 a coup led by Maj. Gen. Muhammad Siyad Barre resulted in a socialist state. In 1977 the corrupt and repressive regime broke with the USSR over Soviet aid to Ethiopia and received aid during the 1980s from the U.S. The Somali army invaded the Ogaden region in 1977 but was defeated (1978) by Ethiopian forces; skirmishes continued into the early 1980s. Barre was ousted (1991) by rebels after intense and bloody fighting. The Somali National Movement gained control of the north, the old British Somaliland, and proclaimed it the Somaliland Republic. The north remained relatively peaceful, although clan-based fighting has occurred.
In Mogadishu and most of the south the United Somali Congress achieved control, but savage warfare erupted between rival subclans. Almost a quarter of the population faced starvation because of the fighting. UN food supplies and peacekeepers arrived in 1992 and were soon joined by troops from the U.S. and other nations to assure distribution of food aid. A national cease-fire was signed, but no central government was formed. Fighting again erupted (1993) in Mogadishu as the UN unsuccessfully attempted to arrest Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid. The U.S. and other nations withdrew their troops in 1994 and the last UN forces were withdrawn in 1995. That year some factions again proclaimed Aidid president, but the country remained divided into spheres of influence with no central government. Aidid died from battle wounds in 1996, and his faction chose his son, former U.S. Marine Hussein Mohammed Farah, to succeed him.
The country was devastated by floods in 1997, and in the late 1990s was still without any organized, internationally recognized government. Breakaway states were declared in Puntland (NE) and Jubaland (S) in 1998. In 2000 a S Somali conference in Djibouti established a national charter and elected a 225-national assembly and a president, Abdikassim Salad Hassan. Salad returned to Somalia in August, but several militias have refused to recognize the new government (which has little real authority). Somaliland voted (2001) to remain independent, and in 2002 warlords in SW Somalia formed another breakaway government in Baidoa.
A cease-fire accord (Oct. 2002) among all major factions except Somaliland failed to halt all fighting, and subsequent talks failed to produce significant results. Meanwhile, the mandate of the essentially symbolic interim government expired in Aug., 2003, but the president withdrew from talks, refused to resign, and had the prime minister (who remained involved in the talks) removed from office. In Sept., 2004, after many delays, a 275-member parliament was convened (in Kenya) under the new charter, and a new president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, was elected in October. Yusuf, a former general who had served as president of Puntland, and the parliament are to serve for five years. Somaliland remained a nonparticipant in the transitional government.
Copyright (c) 2003 Columbia University Press.
Used by permission of Columbia University Press.
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