Somalia: Our Collective Failure

Who remembers Somalia? The mere mention of its name used to conjure the most startling images: fly-ridden orphans lying languid by the roadside, haggard refugees slaughtering their own just for a bit more rice or clean water, and child soldiers impressed into the servitude of warlords. Of late one envisions a modern-day pirate utopia running roughshod over the Gulf of Aden, a hotbed of Islamist extremism and anti-American rhetoric, and a failed state if ever there was one, staggering aimlessly through nearly two decades without a functioning central government. Aside from the occasional late night Children's Relief Fund ad or Blockbuster rental of Black Hawk Down, however, few Westerners give more than a passing thought to this East African nation's tragic history or its current plight. This essay seeks to redress that.

From Egypt to Etiquette

Somalia as we know it today is the result of several centuries of foreign intrusion, imperialist expansion, and internal self-destruction.

In its earliest manifestation, Somalia was known simply as the Land of Punt and was a much-favored port of call for incense and herb trading. Successful business dealings with the Egyptians over the years, among others, enticed these early Somalis to push southward from the Gulf of Aden during the 9^th or 10^th century so as to expand their commercial prospects.

Within five-hundred years, the Somalis - and their prime coastal territory - had attracted the attention of Europe, namely the Portuguese who attempted, unsuccessfully, to subjugate them during the 15^th and 16^th century. (The Portuguese had better luck further south.) Two-hundred years later, the British entered the region.

By this point, during the latter 1800s, the Egyptians and Somalis were both vying for control of the Gulf of Aden. The arrival of the British enabled the Somalis to sign protection agreements with Britain so as to prevent further Egyptian incursion into their territory. It was not long, though, before the British "redefined" these protection agreements and established a colonial office in the region. British Somaliland, as it was then being called, proved a haphazard colony however; British plans for the region were stifled again and again by jihadist Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, better known to Western historians as the "Mad Mullah." (Hassan's campaign of violence against the British is the first recorded instance of Islamic militancy in Somalia.)

Enter the Italians

Italian exploration and colonization of Somalia took place roughly around the same time as that of the British. The Italians, much like their British cohorts, first established protectorates in and around the region, and then direct administrative control - through heavy military intervention - by 1905. What became known as the Italian Somaliland after nearly three decades of conquest was expanded further in 1925 when the British, temporarily sidetracked by the events of World War I, pulled partly out of the region and ceded their land south of the Jubba River to Italy.

The Italians can be blamed for much of the strife which exists between Somalia and its neighbor Ethiopia to this day, as it was from the Italian Somaliland that Italy staged its military invasion of and expansion into southeast Ethiopia through the 1930s. It was during the 1930s that this region became briefly known as Italian East Africa.

Italian hegemony in the region didn't last, though, at least not consistently. Early in the 1940s, the Italians attempted to wrest control of the northern Somaliland from the British, only to be soundly defeated and booted from their own landholdings in the south. The Somali territory was thus administered by the British through the 1940s. It was returned to the Italians under trusteeship in 1950 by the United Nations, only to then be merged with the British Somaliland and granted full independence as the Somali Republic in 1960.

The Wheel Turns

The Somali Republic ratified a new constitution in July 1961 and elected Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as its first president one month later. Although given a fresh start as a new nation, the Somalis had imbibed some rather nasty expansionist tendencies from their former European colonial masters. Chief among these was a "pan-Somalian" movement, for lack of a better term, whereby peoples of Somali decent everywhere were encouraged to rise up in their countries of residence and join with the greater Somalia. This naturally led to a great deal of turmoil and conflict between Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, especially after 1962 when Somalia began receiving substantial military aid from the Soviet Union.

Somalia saw even greater tumult in 1969 when President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was assassinated and a military dictatorship under Major General Jalle Mohamed Siad Barre was established. Barre was later named president, and the country's name was changed to the Somali Democratic Republic.

Although a dictator, to be sure, Barre can be credited with the creation of numerous relief and self-help programs in Somalia. Under his leadership, the Somali government cleaned up towns, constructed roads and irrigation systems throughout the country, built schools and hospitals, and even launched a massive literacy campaign from 1972-73 after the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Although many industries and foreign companies were nationalized under Barre's regime, there were very few complaints - and even fewer uprisings - against his administration given all the good it accomplished.

The wheel of fortune turned for Somalia in 1974 however. A severe drought, affecting large swaths of Africa from 1968 through 1973, crippled Somalia's agricultural sector, forcing food rationing and a state of emergency. It was at this time that Somalia welcomed its first international relief camps.

The Soviets and the States

Wheeling and dealing with the Soviets over the years eventually led to both regional and international strife for the Somalis. In 1975 the US accused Somalia of allowing the USSR to build a military installation at the port of Berbera - a charge which, despite emphatic denial by the Barre administration, turned out to be true. This discovery led to conflict with Ethiopia in 1977, one which the Somalis lost.

Following this defeat, the USSR withdrew their support for Somalia. In response, Barre expelled all Soviet influence from his country and strengthened ties with the US, allowing it to use air and naval facilities at the port of Berbera and at Mogadishu in exchange for roughly $80 million worth of American economic and military aid. In an effort to further align with Western democratic ideology, the Somalis even ratified a new constitution. (It should be noted that Barre was then legitimately [re]elected to another term of office.)

Chaos in the Horn

The 1980s were an especially rough period for the Somalis. Conflict with the Ethiopians - now backed by the Soviet Union - resumed, spawning numerous border raids and sociopolitical uprisings throughout Somalia. By the late '80s, despite strengthened ties with the US under the Reagan administration, Somalia had become a total war zone.

By 1990, at least six heavily armed opposition movements (as well as a handful of smaller, less organized ones) were vying for power in Somalia. These included: the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA), the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali National Movement (SNM), the Somali Patriot Movement (SPM), the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), and the United Somali Congress (USC.) Atrocities were rampant and international aid donors threatened to cut off funds if Barre could not stem the violence. To his credit, Barre did attempt to open a dialogue with the warring factions, but ultimately failed.

Barre fled Mogadishu in 1991. In his absence, the SNM took control of northern Somalia and the USC claimed the rest. The USC soon thereafter split into two factions: one under USC interim president Ali Mahdi Muhammad; the other under General Muhammad Farrah Aideed. Fighting between these two men for absolute rule ensued. Several hundred thousand Somalis died of starvation amidst the violence as they were, not surprisingly, unable to plant sustainable crops in a perpetual warzone, and as relief aid delivered by the UN was frequently stolen by Aideed's and Ali Mahdi's soldiers. Over half a million Somalis fled to refugee camps in Kenya to avoid the violence.

In December 1992, the UN passed a resolution to safeguard relief operations in Somalia. Codenamed UNITAF, a massive US-led international military task force was deployed to the region, and for a brief time Ali Mahdi's and Aideed's forces agreed to a ceasefire. The ceasefire was short-lived, however, and the US soon found itself in the business of confiscating weapons and munitions from the warring factions just to maintain a modicum of order.

Dividing by Zero

By 1993, although starvation had largely been stamped out, Somalia remained unstable. Public services had yet to be restored, tribal warlords had rendered the country a patchwork of death, and there was no clear path to establishing a stable central government or to disarming the many insurgent groups which still roamed the countryside.

Between January and March 1993, fifteen Somali militant factions met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss how to end hostilities and restore order. Their efforts produced a transitional National Council which was to rule Somalia for a two-year period, during which time the UN would spearhead relief and reconstruction. This peace only lasted until June, however, when twenty-three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a raid by Aideed's forces. A $25,000 bounty was placed on Aideed's head; Mogadishu once again erupted into a warzone.

After eighteen US Army Rangers were killed in Mogadishu in October 1993, pressure to withdraw US forces from the region entirely came to bear on the Clinton administration. This was completed by March 1995, and although some 19,000 UN troops remained in Somalia to maintain order, Aideed's and Ali Mahdi's private war raged on.

By 2000, Somalia had ostensibly split into four enclaves: Somaliland in the north, Puntland in the northeast, South Mogadishu (controlled by Aideed's son, Hussein Muhamad Aideed), and North Mogadishu (controlled by Ali Mahdi's forces.)

Out of the Mire?

In the years since the split, Somalia has made some inroads towards re-establishing order. A transitional parliament was formed in 2004 - Somalia's fourteenth attempt since 1991 to form a stable central government - with Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as its president and Ali Mohammed Ghedi as its prime minister. This is not to suggest, however, that the fighting or insurgency ended with Ahmed's election; far from it. Armed conflict soon broke out between the new government and the Union of Islamic Courts in 2006. (The UIC had been administering legal matters in the four enclaves since the 2000 split in an effort to cement itself as the ruling body of Somalia.) Ethiopian forces, ironically enough, intervened on the side of the Somali transitional government and helped disperse the pro-UIC militias by 2007.

Fighting rages on in Somalia. With its transitional government proving more and more ineffectual with each passing day, African Union troops have been dispatched to the region to keep the peace; these are in addition to the hundreds of Ethiopian troops still present in Somalia since the 2006 Islamist uprising. (Ethiopia insists it will withdraw all of its forces shortly.) Islamic extremism and social unrest continue to spread, as do the accusations of war crimes on all sides. Coupled with US airstrikes on presumed al-Qaeda targets in the region, it is hard to imagine the situation in Somalia getting much worse.

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Sources

Background Note: Somalia. U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2863.htm November 2008.

Ryu, Alisha. Human Rights Watch Says All in Somalia Conflict Violated International Law. Voice of America News. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-08/2007-08-13-voa32.cfm 13 August 2007.

Somalia. CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html 18 December 2008.

Somalia: History and Politics. Institute for Security Studies. http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Somalia/Politics.html March 2005.

Timeline: Somalia. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1072611.stm 17 December 2008.