Somalia's Thirty Year War

In January 1991, the forces of the United Somali Congress orchestrated a coup that would forever alter the political landscape of a small country in East Africa. Thirty years later, that war has transcended the boundaries of Somalia and continues to take hundreds of thousands of lives.

Shortly after Somalia gained independence from the British and Italians in 1960, the country adopted a democratic system of government. However, that election system was short lived, with Muhammad Siad Barre assuming power through a coup in 1969. The beginning of Barre’s rule was predominantly defined by his invasion of Ethiopia in 1977, under the pretenses that Somalia had the right to the Ethiopian region of Ogaden. However, after eight months, Barre withdrew troops from Ethiopia, signaling defeat for Somalia and its new leader. As political tensions rose, Barre retreated inwards, barring members of the Isaaq clan from participating in government.

Functioning as sub-ethnicities of the Somali nation, clans are separated into multiple levels: clan family, clan, sub-clan, and sometimes sub-sub-clan. Though clans have no centralized government, they are often headed by leaders and elders, who have the ability to drastically influence Somali society and politics. The most powerful clans within Somali society are the four “noble” clan families: The Darod (the largest), The Hiwaye, The Dir, and the Isaaq. To this day, the Somali clan is the single most important political unit in the country. Different clans occupy and control different regions of the country, often excluding minority clans from access to political systems

Because of the prominence of clan culture in Somalia, Barre’s exclusion of certain clans from power drew outrage. He also armed and funded a select few clans, causing immense violent division between communities that had once peacefully coexisted. And after the bloody killing of 2,000 members of the Majerteen clan in a violent altercation, the United Somali Congress, an opposition group to Barre’s oppression, began attacking Mogadishu (the country’s capital), causing Barre to finally flee the country. A country already in shambles, left with no leader, began to devolve into further chaos.

Barre’s absence left the country in a dangerous power vacuum. The USC was left with control over the crumbling nation, but had split into two “branches,” which disagreed on who should take Barre’s place– the “external branch” declared Ali Madhi Mohammed president, while the “internal branch” contested the decision. Soon, the tensions between the two factions erupted into a bloody civil war ravaging Mogadishu. In the wake of this violence, Somaliland (once a region of Somalia) declared autonomy and officially broke away from Somalia, establishing a government and democratic processes. But Somalia was still struggling. Clan-based militias began to wage war against one another and the USC factions began to invade and brutally fight clans in an attempt to expand its power. These brutal crackdowns resulted in a displacement of families and the disruption of agricultural work and thus, famine engulfed the country in 1992.

Somalia’s extensive famine rang alarm bells for countries all over the world and thus, late 1992 saw an entrance of US-UN forces into the country. However, these forces soon proved to exacerbate the situation, entering conflict with militias and violently repressing Somali citizens. After years of fruitless missions, UN peacekeepers officially left Somalia in 1995

Following in the footsteps of Somaliland, Puntland (formerly situated in the Northeast region of Somalia) declared autonomy from Somalia in 1998. Though neither territory is recognized by any country in the international community as a state, they were able to avoid the cyclical conflict that kills millions of Somalians to this day.

The early 2000s complicated the dynamic of Somalia’s prolonged civil war with the introduction and proliferation of Islamist groups within the country. The United States’ first military intervention in Somalia since its peacekeeping mission came in 2007 as a response to Al-Qaeda’s growing presence in the country. Beginning in 2009, Al-Shabaab began to advance throughout the country, overtaking Mogadishu, Baidoa, and Kismayo– all key cities housing military bases and ports. However, Al-Shabaab’s growth was short lived, and in 2011, Kenyan, African Union, and Somali troops were able to recapture most land from the organization.

Al-Shabaab’s retreat welcomed a glimmer of hope for the country, with Somalia’s first parliament in over twenty years becoming established as a unified front against Al-Shabaab. The country received foregin aid pledges and FDI from predominantly western countries, as well as the backing of the African Union. However, like many of its victories, Somalia’s stability was short-lived. 2013 saw the resurgence of Al-Shabaab within Somalia and since then, the loosely-weaved threads of stability that came with Somalia’s new parliament have been ripped apart. Because of a lack of organization and the overwhelming threat of Al-Shabaab, Somalia’s 2021 election was postponed. As the acting president Farmaajo entered talks with his opposition group, the country devolved into violence once again, with clans seeing political instability as a scapegoat for violent land grabs. The civil war that once engulfed the small country on Africa’s Northeast horn raged on once again.

After thirty years of war, it is estimated that around 350,000-1,000,000 Somalis have died in the conflict, supplemented by cyclical famines, terrorism, and misgovernment. And the global community is not doing nearly enough to rectify the devastating reality that Somalia, in its entire lifespan as a nation, has never seen peace.

Aid organizations currently accepting donations for Somalia:

https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/somalia

https://www.rescue.org/country/somalia

https://www.muslimaid.org/about-us/where-we-work/somalia/

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094632

https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/somalia-fall-of-siad-barre-civil-war/

https://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/hdq949.pdf

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/al-shabab-somalia

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/somalia.htm