Somalia
Country in NE Africa (the Horn of Africa), on the Indian Ocean, bounded
NW by Djibouti, W by Ethiopia, and SW by Kenya.
Government
Since the overthrow of the Barre regime 1991, the country has been
in a state of near-anarchy. In March 1993 a Transitional National Council
was established, but much of the country's administration continued
to be conducted by the United Nations.
History
A British protectorate of Somaliland was established 1884-87, and Somalia,
an Italian protectorate, 1889. The latter was a colony from 1927 and
incorporated into Italian East Africa 1936; it came under British military
rule 1941-50, when as a United Nations trusteeship it was again administered
by Italy.
Somalia became a fully independent republic 1960 through a merger
of the two former colonial territories, British and Italian Somaliland.
From that date, Somalia was involved in disputes with its neighbours
because of its insistence on the right of all Somalis to self-determination,
wherever they have settled. This was frequently applied to those living
in the Ogaden district of Ethiopia and in NE Kenya. A dispute over the
border with Kenya resulted in a break in diplomatic relations with Britain
1963-68. The dispute with Ethiopia led to an eight-month war 1978, in
which Somalia was defeated by Ethiopian troops assisted by Soviet and
Cuban weapons and advisers. Some 1.5 million refugees entered Somalia,
and guerrilla fighting continued in Ogaden until its secession 1991.
There was a rapprochement with Kenya 1984 and, in 1986, the first meeting
for ten years between the Somali and Ethiopian leaders.
In Oct 1969, President Shermarke was assassinated, and the army seized
power under . He suspended the 1960 constitution, dissolved the national
assembly, banned all political parties, and formed a military government.
In 1970 he declared Somalia a socialist state.
In 1976, the junta transferred power to the newly created Somalia
Revolutionary Socialist Party, and three years later the constitution
for a one-party state was adopted. Over the next few years Barre consolidated
his position by increasing the influence of his own clan and reducing
that of his northern rival, despite often violent opposition.
Barre was re-elected Jan 1987, although the SNM had taken control
of large parts of the north and east of the country. In riots June 1989
an estimated 400 people were killed by government troops; the government
claimed only 24 people died.
In Jan 1991 President Barre survived an attempted coup but fled the
capital as rebel forces took control. After discussions with different
political and social groups, Ali Mahdi Muhammad was named president.
The secession of NW Somalia, as the Somaliland Republic, was announced
May 1991, with Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Ali, leader of the SNM, as its president.
A cease- fire signed June 1991 between four rival Somali factions (United
Somali Congress (USC), Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), Somali
Patriotic Movement (SPM), and Somali Democratic Movement (SDM)), failed
to hold. In Sept 1991 the outbreak of severe fighting with many casualties
was reported in Mogadishu, the capital. The fighting continued in the
succeeding months and 20,000 people were reported to have been killed
or injured by the year's end. By April 1992 former president Muhammad
Siad Barre had given up his attempt to return to power and had taken
his family and the remnants of his army into exile in Kenya.
A federal system of government, based on 18 autonomous regions, was
agreed by leaders of Somalia's various armed factions March 1993.
In June 1993 US-led UN forces destroyed the headquarters of warlord
General Muhammad Farah Aidid and attacked other strongholds in retaliation
for the killing of 24 Pakistani peacekeeping troops. A formal warrant
was then issued for Aidid's arrest and an all-out search for the warlord
launched. Clashes between UN and Somali forces increased as a result
and in Oct 1993, after a battle in Mogadishu that left 12 US soldiers
dead and as many as 70 wounded, US president Bill Clinton announced
March 1994 as a withdrawal date for US troops. The search for Aidid
was called off Nov 1993. In Feb 1994 Ali Mahdi Muhammad and Aidid signed
a peace agreement, and there were signs of some stability in the country's
affairs.
Clan-based fighting continued, however, and after the last of the
UN peacekeepers left Somalia March 1995, the power struggle between
Aidid and Ali Mahdi Muhammad resumed. The 1991 secession of the Somaliland
Republic in the NW had failed to gain international recognition and
by 1994 Ahmed Ali, who had been replaced as the breakaway republic's
president by Muhammad Ibrahim Egal 1993, was advocating negotiations
between N and S. President Egal, however, rejected his proposal.
Aidid was killed in faction fighting Aug 1996 and his son Hussein
Aidid was sworn in as `interim president of Somalia´. Mahdi initially
called a cease-fire, but fighting soon resumed.
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