In the years of the 1991 Barre’s military government was finally overthrown by the USC and its leaders general Aided and Ali Mahdi. The ousting of Barre led to the country to a full collapse of central government and arise functional conflict. The new government led by Ali Mahdi, was only established and controlled parties of Mogadishu, since other warring groups, as well as breaking away USC faction led by Aided did not accept and fighting the fore continued gun started to shoot the engaging diplomacy through negotiating and sharing the national cake. In May,1991, the Somali national movement (SNM) proclaimed the independence of former British colony of Somaliland as unilateral declaration, even though had not been recognized either by the southerners or by the international community as sovereign state, but it had worked as a ‘De facto’ administration the northern territories.
Since 1991 Somalia has not had an effective central government and had experienced continuous warfare as different clans compete for power and resource, arrange of peace initiatives has been undertaken over the past 34 years, including several major peace conferences supported by the international community, but violent confrontation still occur regularly. Several peace agreement was producing governments since state collapsed in 1991, however neither of them succeeded to return back law and order into the war-torn country nor even had any credibility or legitimacy because all of them were established based on external philosophy which was not reflecting the reality on the ground and also those officials who captured high positions of the government were most of them either the most corrupted ,or a faithless warlords who destroyed the country .In 1992, the UN imposed army embargo on Somalia with the purpose of establishing peace and stability in Somalia (Security Council resolution s/RES733, 1992). Later on, the same year, after mediating a cease fire agreement, the UN deployed the united nation operation in Somalia (UNISOM), to oversee the agreements and protect the humanitarian relief work that was taken place due to sever famine. The UN presence was severally opposed by the General Aided of the USC and it became clear, that Unisom is quite small to protect the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the conflicting environment of Somalia.
In attempt to increase security a unified task force called (UITAF), a multinational force of 37,000 soldiers led by the United States comes through the ‘operation of restore hope’ and was authorized by the UN security council (UNSC). UNISOM, In March 1993 peace agreement was signed between Ali Mahdi and his combatant Aided, along with other warring parties where a transitional national council (TNC) was agreed upon. Subsequently UNITAF transformed into the UNISOM2. Nevertheless, the attacks on the UN continued; in June 1993 the Pakistani contingent was attacked and 24 troops were killed. Two months later in an attempt to capture Aided, hundreds of Somalis and 18 American soldiers were killed and mutilated pictures of us soldiers were seen being dragged around Mogadishu was broad casted over the world and this subsequently led to the US withdrawal from Somalia(the BLACK HAWK DOWN mission is over) The UN mission also left from the country in March 1995, and followed by the leaving a limited political office in Somalia (UNPOS) was based on Nairobi for security reason (Security Council report .org, Somalia January 2006).
Aided died in 1996 and was succeeded his son Hussein Aided. This open up a window of opportunity for continued negotiations but, unfortunately a new fight broke out at the end of that year; as a result of continued fighting, no group managed to take over control of the country between 1997 and 2000, leaving Somalia without any form of government. Then in 2000, a peace conference aimed at forming a Somali administration was initiated by the Djibouti and the intergovernmental authority for development (IGAD) the conference led to peace agreement which provided for establishment of transitional national assembly (TNA) and later become the transitional national government (TNG) mandated for three years’ time. The new government have faced the same circumstances of the past and event not able to extend its power beyond its palace and met sever oppositions led by warlords often backed by Ethiopia refusing to accept the peace agreement. The spoilers formed former a military alliance- the Somali reconciliation and restoration council (SRRC), with a purpose to overthrow the TNG
In 2001, IGAD, once more tried to get a solution to the conflict, and these negotiations were gone until 2004 and resulted the establishment of new transitional federal institutions (TFI) such as transitional federal government (TFG) and transitional federal parliament (TFP) the former TNG’s mandate has expired in 2003. The TFG have mandated in five years’ time to prepare Somalia for elections to be held in 2009, led by Abdullah Yusuf a former warlord who was ruled in northeastern region of Somalia called Puntland backed by the Ethiopians with military and financial support.
The TFG worked in exile in Kenya but then established inside in town of Jowhar 90km north of Mogadishu. Ethiopia scarified for its former friend cornel Abdullahi Yusuf to bring him at Mogadishu by force because Ethiopians knew that Mr. Yusuf would never renew Somalis claim over the Ogden region in Ethiopia which in habited by Somalis. In a mean time, a network of the so-called ‘local Islamic courts’ had organized themselves under the name of union of Islamic courts. The UIC was formed as rebel to the transitional federal government. The court system had existed since the collapse of the central government in Somalia as governance experiment in the government vacuum. During the past decade, apart from running the courts, the Sharia’ courts had also built a school and health system. Thus, this made easier for UIC to gain support from the local population.
Ethio-US Invasion on Somalia
Late after 2006,triangle military attack were launched by Ethiopia-US, and the TFG forces to over thrown the Islamist militia which was alleged that they have linked with al-Qaida network and quick military advance were ensured, but Yusuf and his alliance under umbrella of ‘war on terror’ did not succeed their mission because of fierce resistance from the people of Mogadishu who had rejected what seemed to many Somali nationalists as a Ethio-US neo-colonial project launched against Somalia, but it caused more bloody and vicious street battle between Somalis and Ethiopian army in Mogadishu. Ethiopia’s invasion against the capital of Somalia Mogadishu was seen as existential threat to so many Somali people in different regions.
In December 8, the Islamic courts declared state of war and involved heavy fighting erupted between the UIC forces and the Ethiopian backed forces, the battle happened initially in two areas military base of Daynuunaay and Iidale; as result, the UIC made calls of jihad against Ethiopia in which it gained international mujahedeen volunteers arriving in Somalia. Then the war becomes implicated on ideological dimension. Islamists were alleged hosting international terrorist and also armed insurgencies against the Ethiopian government, made irredentist claim over the Ethiopian Somali region of Ogden; consequently, the UIC enjoyed
friendly and extensive support of Eritrea which was eager to use the Islamists to wage a proxy war. Ethiopia’s primary objective was to crash the UIC, and its traditional fear about the raise of Somali nationalist or Islamic state in its outdoors, that would revive pan-Somalis and irredentist ideology of ‘greater Somalia’. Secondary but is important priority was to ensure the survival of its client, TFG; which lack local legitimacy and Somalis were not recognized its jurisdiction utterly.
The US its part launched air attacks against the Islamists using AC-130gun ships and Cruise missiles on suspected al-Qaida were hidden around Kenyan border, and sometimes they targeted civilians and their lives stocks. Although all these failed to assassinate their targets it had left lasting political impacts in Somalia, as they reinforced widespread conviction and mass killings by the Ethiopian offensive operations was directed and orchestrated by Washington administration.
Political and military interventions by the international community
Since the disintegration of the central government of Somalia in 1991, the country, become a platform of foreign controversy and contradicting ideologies and interests, and was employed direct or indirect by different actors in the Somali:
A) – the US policy towards Somalia: – The united state of America was interested to establish good relations with Somalia after its independent, For the cold war reason and because of the Somalia’s geographically and strategic position. Unfortunately, from time to time the interest of eastern and western powers and their excessive political and military interventions become curse to the country.
However, after the end of the cold war, the US interest to Somalia was terminated because of the collapse of the state and due to the civil war. Later on, 1992, the American interest retuned because of the humanitarian disaster in Somalia, and their need of the natural resources including gas and the oil as well. but unfortunately, the US led mission ended up in disastrous street war where so many people being killed including American Rangers. That event left behind the relationship into a dark Holle. Since then, US-Somalia relations after hundreds of Somalis and 18 American soldiers were killed at Mogadishu as clash between a Somali faction leader called General Aidiid, and the UNISOM.
Eight years later America’s interest to Somalia renewed, but it was quite differed about humanitarian and good will, 11September, 2001 was a black day for America and the capitalist world; the collapse of twin towers in New York, and destruction of pentagon building caused by kidnapped American airplanes. Suspected Al-Qaida elements in Somalia made the country next target to Afghanistan as declared George Bush, the US president at that time. The US suspicion about the UIC, as harboring international terrorism in Somalia exacerbated the political situation of Somalia, which was the past by nature anarchic.
When the Islamist come to the power the United States did not recognize them, as legitimate Administration which at least gained popular support; and there was continues allegations and contra allegation; and eventually US supported the Quasi government of Abdullah Yusuf, which lacked popular support of local and works as exile government, because its contents of full of warlords who destroyed and divided the people into the clan lines for their own interests . The Abudllahi Yusuf’s government had a federal charter that was based on four point five (4.5) which was seen as a new divide and rule, because government recognized only four major pastoralist clans in Somalia. Furthermore that, Somalia had never practiced in history a kind of federal system, which was quite ambiguous for Somalis and federalism was not reflecting the reality at the ground due to lack of federal institutions that defines the bases of federal entities.
B) – Regional in security and proxy wars: The border stalemate and underlying problems of authoritarian political process and fragile governments in Ethiopia and Eretria are inherently linked to a large conflict in the horn of Africa. Both of two governments have demonstrated the capacity and the willingness to conduct proxy wars against each other in the region. Armed insurgent groups such as the ONLF, and OLF, as well as EPPF, have had offices in Asmara, Eretria has provided sanctuary and military assistance to these groups and has sought to infiltrate fighters into Ethiopia through Sudan and more importantly, Somalia. The Ethiopian government attributed a series of 2006 bomb blasts against the civilian targets in Addis Ababa and other cities to explosives provided by Eretria.
In a same scenario to the above, Ethiopia had supported fragments of Eretria liberation front (ELF), and the Eritrean national alliances (ENA) as well as other liberation movements. Interventions by proxy have been less risky method of a conflict rather than direct and high scale of confrontation but are likely to escalate unless the underlined issue are solved. In addition to that, Ethiopia and Eretria attempted to compete by supporting rival partiers in neighboring states. Addis Ababa supported Abdullah Yusuf and dysfunctional TFG in Somalia.
Consistent with deeply ingrained patterns of giving support to the enemy of one’s enemy, Eretria had provided arms to a wide range of anti-Ethiopian forces in Somalia, hoping to tie Ethiopian forces down in the Ogden. According to a 2006 UN report, and diplomatic source estimates 6000 to 8000 Ethiopian force and 2000 of Eritrean troops to be in Somalia supporting their respective allies, and there was a fear that Somalia end up a battlefield for armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eretria in near future. Renewed conflict in Mogadishu in May and June 2006 pitted a US-supported anti-terror Alliance in a failed attempt to capture several Somalis linked to Al Qaida and implications in the 1998 bombings of US Embassy in East Africa.
The Emergency of Al-Shabaab and the Federal government’s agenda on war on terror
the Ethiopian intervention in Somali politics, in December 2006, and its attempts to defeat what remained of the Union of the Islamic courts escalated the conflict because Ethiopia committed numerous war crimes, e.g. by shelling residential areas, yet without succeeding in decisively defeating its antagonist. On the contrary, the result appears to have been a relative strengthening gained by the extremist forces in the country. The Islamist movement divided into two groups Militarily who joined the federal government led by Mr. Shariif Sheikh Ahmed, and radical militant militias who became later the Al-Shabaab. Alshabaab quickly gained ground and asserted religiously more Salafist versions of the Sharia gained ground over the more apolitical and moderate Sufism forms of Islam.
One explanation of the Latter may be that the overlap between the national and the religious causes. Considering that Ethiopia is
Somalia’s national arch-enemy as well as a Christian country—at least in the sense of being dominated by the predominantly Christian Abyssinian Tribes (the Amhara and the Tigrayans) albeit perhaps with a Muslim Majority—it was all too easy for Islamists to portray the intervention as a new crusade by the infidels against, The Dar al-Islam (the Home of Islam). From a strictly legal point of view, the Ethiopian intervention might be justified as a simple instance of one government responding to the request for assistance from another one, but the reality was different.
As the TFG was merely a government by name, quite the opposite it was the Ethiopia who asked the TFG to ask for assistance, in order receive greenlight and legal ground for its invasion on Somalia. Ethiopia also seems to have been aware all along of its complete lack of legitimacy in the eyes of the Somali population and was apparently quite eager to withdraw as soon as possible. However, the intervention left it in the country something quite similar to that of the United States did in Iraq. Why the government eventually decided to nevertheless withdraw remains unclear, but the damage that was done by the intervention was probably irreparable, and Addis’s attempted at persuading the AU to take over ‘a peace keeping mission’ in Somalia which seem to have failed miserably later to defeat Al-Shabaab who is still in control of parties in Somalia and still fighting against the federal government after 20 years of insurgency.
Why the Somali federal government failed to control its territories, and still dependent to foreign countries for the national security?
Although the current federal government has been improving its capabilities in most regions in Somalia, including the capital city Mogadishu there some significant security, political and economic challenges in the country:
Political challenges:
- Lack of political unity and collaboration in between the federal government and some regional administrations, due to a clan politics and personal interest between entities
- Successionist Ambitions in the north (Current Somaliland), where the federal government can’t control.
- Weak legitimacy of the federal authorities as they are not elected by the people.
- lack of accountability of the federal public officials by the citizens, due to the 4.5 clan system.
- High level of corruption in both the federal government and the regional authorities that prompted poor public services.
Security challenges:
a. Weak and ill-equipped national army due to lack of political will of the supper structure
b. Army embargo imposed on Somalia by the security council since the 1991
c. Lack of unified army and police in all 18 regions, each clan-based administration has his own army and police.
d. Excessive foreign military interventions in Somalia, Ethiopian, American, UAE, presence has been weakening Somali’s national security and territorial integrity because all these countries have a contradictory interest in Somalia.
e. Al-Shabaab terrorist attacks on Somali institutions and the people, these attacks have killed, terrorized several thousands of innocent civilians in many cities of Somalia. The group still active and fighting sections in the country, and the government failed either to defeat them or negotiate with them to end the crisis.
Economic challenges:
The federal system of Somalia has been dependent on mainly the taxation-money from the Banadir region and the capital Mogadishu, and foreign aid because the federal government can’t collect taxation form other region, because each regional government takes its own taxation and contribute nothing to federal government,
The federal government of Somalia failed to activate and invest Somali’s traditional economic sectors such as livestock, agriculture and the fishing sectors. The trade between the regions is not effective due to a poor infrastructure, Roads, bridges, ports are in poor condition due to the aging and lack of proper refurbishment.
Written by: Omar Ahmed