What Were the Causes of the Civil War in Somalia?

¶ … Somalia Civil war

SOMALIA- CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

Columbia Encyclopedia describes the geographical position of Somalia in these words:

Somalia is directly south of the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden. It comprises almost the entire African coast of the Gulf of Aden and a longer stretch on the Indian Ocean. It is bounded on the NW by Djibouti, on the W. By Ethiopia, on the SW by Kenya, and on the S. And E. By the Indian Ocean. Mogadishu is the capital. There are 18 regions. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2000)

Somalia has been ruled by various imperial empires. Some of its earlier rulers were the nations of Oman, Turks and Zanzibar. Most of these nations lost control in Somalia. Britain, France and Italy came to this part of the world in the 19th century. Each country has had a say during its rule. It was first used by Britain to guard its links with its colony in Aden, as it was dependent on livestock supplies from Somalia. The Italians used Italian Somaliland as an agricultural base to grow citrus fruits and sugarcane. The British managed to seize a lot of land after the original occupants (the Egyptians) left to fight the Sudanese people. After forging alliances with the local tribal leaders, they established themselves as the guardians of the country.

Its colonial masters divided Somalia into portions. The British controlled the northern territory, with the French controlling the east and southeastern territories, and the south controlled by Italy. Ethiopia controlled part of Somali territory, (The Ogaden) in the west. The British had to face a resistance movement from the Salihiyah brotherhood. The leader of this group was Mohammed Abdille Hassan. This resistance group sought independence from their colonial masters. They also declared war on Ethiopia seeking the return of the Ogaden from their clutches. The war of resistance ran for twenty years, 1899-1920. It caused a lot of mayhem and chaos throughout the Somalia territories. There were a lot of casualties from the fallout of the war and a lot of Somalia's economy was destroyed.

Lewis (1988) writes:

The Long Drawn Out campaigns against the Dervishes in British Somaliland, and the gradual extension of Italian rule in Somalia, left little time or resources available for economic or social improvement. In Somalia, however, from the beginning of the period of direct control, the aim was to attract settlers from the mother country and to develop colonial plantations along the Shebelle and Juba Rivers. (I. M Lewis, 92)

The Italian Somaliland flourished as a lot of fruit plantations were created. This was very beneficial for the economy. It helped to improve the economy of the south. The rulers neglected the British Somaliland. There were no development funds for the colony as they were used to control the uprising. The British just used the colony as a post for livestock. The merger of the north and south of Somalia into an independent country in 1960 had a lot of tragic consequences. This sowed the seeds for a civil war many years later. After independence, the legacies of the former colonial masters proved to be futile. The north was far behind the south in a lot of economic factors. With the southern part of Somalia being more experienced they had a better say in the state's economy and politics. This angered the northern Somalis as they felt betrayed.

Italy controlled a great part of Somalia. It increased the size of its territory by adding more land in the south and north. The Italians named their new territory Italian Somaliland. They took over Somali speaking districts of Ethiopia and combined them with Somalia. Italian Somaliland was made a province of Italian East Africa. Italy attacked Ethiopia and took over its rule. After conquering Ethiopia they set their sets on the occupation of British Somaliland. This reunited the two parts of Somalia after long time.

It merged the territories of the Ogaden and the northern and southern parts of Somalia. The Italians were good rulers as they modernized the Somali economy. There were also no protests against the Italian rule. However the British reoccupied British Somaliland in 1941 and ejected the Italians from the south of Somalia. The British put the Ogaden, and southern Somalia under military rule. Italian Somaliland remained with Britain till 1950 when the UN ordered it to be made part of an Italian Trust Territory. The Ogaden was returned to Ethiopia in 1948. This was a very upsetting decision as most of the inhabitants of the Ogaden were Somalis.

The road for independence was set after southern Somalia was returned conditionally to the Italian Trusteeship Administration. Under a UN led decree, the Italians were to prepare the Somaliland for independence over a ten-year period. The UN formed an advisory council to look after the progress of the administration. The Italian administration gave the Somalis an education in politics and self-government. There were also plans to improve and expand the educational system, improve the economy and teach people about their rights of freedom.

These efforts were to lower the pressure from Somali nationalists (the SYL), who wanted to unify the two parts of Somalia. The British also made attempts to develop north Somalia but could not reach up to the mark of south Somalia.

Meanwhile, the SYL (The Somali Youth League) got suspicious of the administration's goals. A lot of the SYL members were fired from civil posts and jailed. The syl accused the administration of having a hidden agenda and responded with acts of protest and civil disobedience. The UN stepped in as a mediator and cooled matters down.

Somalis gained a lot of legislative and executive experience with the formation of the Territorial, Municipal and rural councils. All of these created to tackle urban and rural problems. Elections were held in southern Somalia in 1956 for a seventy seat legislative assembly. This assembly took over the functions of the territorial council. The syl won around 43 seats out of 60 seats while the HDM won 13 seats. The other 10 seats were reserved for non-Somalis. This gave the assembly power to look over domestic affairs though the governor would be of the Italian administration. The Italian administration still had a lot of power and controlled a lot of the territory's affairs.

The southern Somali government wanted to find ways of being self-sufficient economically. There was also a major concern about the constitution after independence. They couldn't decide whether to adopt a federalist or unitary form of government. The HDM wanted a federal government while the SYL wanted a unitary form of government. The syl claimed that a federalist government would be a cause of a lot of problems such as clannishness and social injustice. Due to their political strength, the SYL won. Then there was also the sensitive issue of greater Somalia. There were some Somali inhabited areas in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, which were left out of Somalia due to the former colonial masters. The Somali leadership wanted to have peaceful relations with their territorial neighbors but making claims on their territory could be a bad move of hostility. The SYL wanted the constitution to include an article, which would lead to the unification of Somalia by "all means necessary." (Clarke, 1997)

The SYL swept the 1958 municipal elections in the south Somalia. This was due to support from one of the clan members who formerly supported the HDM. This gave it a powerful position before the election campaigns for the new republic

It took a lot of Political protests in British Somaliland in 1957 to force Britain to accept the unification of British Somaliland with South Somalia. They were also forced to allow the Somalis form their own representative government. A member in the legislative council represented all the clans. Elections were held in 1960 with a big victory for the SNL and the USP. They shared 32 out of 33 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

Due to a rise of popular sentiment, the leaders of the two territories pushed their plans to go for an immediate reunification. The British government reluctantly agreed to end its rule in 1960. The leaders of the two territories met in Mogadishu in 1960 and agreed to create a unitary state out of the two territories. The British Somaliland received independence on June 26, 1960 and merged with south Somalia on July 1, 1960. The new nation was called the Somali Republic.

Abdirashiid Ali Shermaarke, a modernist was appointed prime minister by Adnan Abdullah Usmaan, the president. He was elected president by the legislature and his appointment was confirmed a year later by referendum. Shermaake's government was dominated mainly by the SYL and also supported by the northern parties of the SNL and the USC.

Cracks had already started to appear in the new state. The British and the Italian had left them systems, which were totally opposite of each other. Everything was different in the north and south. Each side had their own administrative, legal and education system. There were a lot of different economic factors such as taxes and different currencies. The UN set up a commission to help them sort out their differences. The people of the south believed that were better equipped to govern the region as they had a lot of experience. This sowed seeds of bitterness amongst the Northern Elite as they would have to play second fiddle to the south. Their resentment of the south would lead to a lot of problems later.

There were two major political parties in the northern region during Independence. One of them was the SNL, which was a representative of the Isaaq clan. The Isaaq clan also represented a majority in the north. Then there was the USP, which was supported by the Dir and the Daarood. After the unification of Somalia, the Isaaq were reduced to a minority while the Daarood's power increased after they joined ranks with the SYL. The Dir however stuck to the north as it had a lot of sympathies with the Isaaq clan. The southern opposition party, the GSL, was a pro-Arab and a pro-Somali party. They got the support of the SNL and USP.

The people in the north demonstrated their discord against the south in a 1961 referendum on the constitution. The southern half went all the way to support it while, it got less than 50% of the northern half's votes. Apparently the northern half did not like being tied to the south too much.

Bitterness over the distribution of power amongst clan families came to a peak in December 1961. The two regions nearly came to blows when southern trained higher-ranking officers were appointed to command the units of junior army officers in the north. The instigators of this clash demanded the separation of the north and south regions. Though northern officials arrested them, a lot of resentment was felt in the north.

More seeds of destruction were sown when the GSL leader Hussein, tried to form a union of parties, the Somali Democratic Union. He got a number of northern elite to join the party. These northern elites were not pleased with the representation of their SNL party in the government. This party failed to achieve any goals. However it started a chain of events, when Igaal and a SNL minister resigned from the cabinet. They took a lot of SNL supporters and formed a new party, the Somali National Congress. This party received widespread support in the North. It also got support from a Hawiye dominated SYL faction. Thus a new party had come on to the horizon. This was just the starting of the differences between the north and south.

The political map of the country was changed when on October 15, 1969 President Shermaarke was assassinated by his bodyguard. Prime Minister, Igaal. Was not in the country. He returned to begin selection proves for the new president. He wanted to choose a member of the Daarood clan as president. This was criticized by a number of people including high-ranking members of the army. They thought that this wouldn't help matters in the country. The army staged a coup on the 21st of October 1969, when it became clear that the assembly would vote for Igaal's candidate. The army arrested a lot of government and political figures. They also took over important strategic points in Mogadishu. A new governing body, the Supreme Revolutionary Council was set up. Mohammed Siad Barre was appointed the president of the country by the council. One of the new tasks after overthrowing the government was to suspend the constitution, ban political parties and dismiss the national assembly. The new regime's wanted an end to centuries old tribalism and wide spread corruption. Somalia was renamed the Somali democratic republic.

Simmons (1995) writes:

Meanwhile, shortly after taking power, Siad Barre introduced his own brand of pragmatism to Somalia: scientific socialism. In part this interjection of socialism must be viewed as a genuine, reactive response to the corruption that had plagued Somalia's free-market democracy, particularly as Siad Barre strove to ground his ideology (at least initially) in indigenous terms. (Anna Simons, 47)

Siad Barre went one to abolish the clan system. He appointed peacekeepers to replace the tribal elders and replaced the clans with committees. The clans lost all their rights to land and water. These steps were taken to weaken the power of the clans and religious leaders. He abolished a lot of Islamic laws, which he deemed unfair. Amongst one of these laws was Diya, blood for money. Siad Barre tried to remove the influence of religion from politics. The SRC was terminated in 1976. It was later brought back and renamed the Somali Socialist Party (SRSP). It was just a figurehead party and all the power remained with Siad Barre.

In order to consolidate his iron fisted rule he tried to reoccupy the Ogaden from Ethiopia. He launched a fill scale war against Ethiopia from 1977-78.this war drained the Somali economy. Somalia suffered defeat and the loss of over 8000 men. They also had to contend with the flow of over 650,000 refugees from the Ogaden region.

In order to gain economic favors from the west, Siad made a few attempts to bring back democracy. Somalia needed economic aid from the U.S. And couldn't get any help because of its anti- democracy measures. He made changes in the constitution in 1979. These changes allowed freedom of speech, free press, religion and assembly. Unfortunately these rights were subject to proper qualifications. He made himself head of the state and government. In fact the whole constitution was rigged to give him sweeping powers for everything in the country.

After the Ogaden war, there were a lot of protests by the opposition. In order to control them Siad Barre started taking drastic steps. He violated a lot of human rights violations when he had his opponents tortured or murdered. Siad barre launched an attack against the Majeerteen clan after several of its military members had launched an unsuccessful coup attempt against him in 1978.. Several of the Majeerteen military personnel escaped abroad where they formed the Somali salvation democratic front. Siad further revolted against the Isaaq in the northern region. The Isaaq weren't satisfied with their representation in his government. Some of the Isaaq dissidents formed a party (Somali national movement) in 1981 in London. Their mission was to get rid of Siad barre from power. They tried getting back at the government by launching a number of raids in Somali territory. Siad got back at them by bombing one of Somalia's northern cities, Hargeysa. His next target was the clan of Hawiye who lived around Mogadishu. The Hawiye also formed an opposition movement, the united Somali congress.

This way Siad barre alienated a lot of clans including the Ogaden. The Ogaden turned against him after he resumed diplomatic relations with Ethiopia. Due to his actions a lot of Ogaden military personnel left the armed forces to join the Somali Patriotic Movement.

All these opposition groups waged a war against the regime of Siad barre. They managed to make a lot of headway by capturing a lot of government land. More than 50,000 innocent civilians were killed during Siad Barre's actions against the various clans. Thousands of people died from the poisoning of water wells and senseless slaughtering of animals. For this reason, a large maority ran away to seek refuge in areas outside the conflict-ridden region.

Barre's forces opened fire on 450 people during a July 1989 demonstration. This enraged a lot of clan families. They signed petition calling for an end to violence and for Siad barre's resignation. The opposition finally defeated the Siad barre regime on January 27, 1991. Siad barre fled the country and sought refuge in Nigeria. The USC made plans for the formation of a government. However Mohammed Farrah Aidid, a former army commander, opposed it. He formed a splinter faction of the USC. Other political parties weren't given any place or consultation. So they decided to fight back. The SSDF and SPM allied against the USC. They kept on fighting for control of several towns. Other parties such as the SNM rejected offers to participate in the unity talks.