B COMEDIAS HEROICAS.

In 1991, the faction controlling the former British Somaliland, the Somali National movement (SNM), extensively changed matters by declaring its independence as the republic of Somaliland. This was followed in 1998 as Puntland, the north east region of Somalia, declared itself an autonomous state in attempt to avoid the clan warfare engulfing southern Somalia (Garowe Online, 2011 and BBC News, 2011c). Unlike Somaliland, Puntland does not want recognition as an independent entity, instead it aims to be part of a federal Somalia. Map 5 Below illustrates the division of Somalia into Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia as it stands today.

Map 5 Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia

(Source: BBC, 2010).

In 1992, the conflicts throughout Somalia had destroyed most of the country’s crops, which coupled with Africa’s worst drought of the century, caused widespread famine. Over half a million people died and contagious diseases spread through refugee camps inside the country. Warring militias looted food flown in by international agencies. The starvation and total breakdown of public services was publicised in the western media and pressure mounted for the UN to act. Consequently, in December 1992, the UN actively intervened sending a force of 35,000 troops in Operation Restore Hope. This briefly restored calm and fifteen warring groups convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for peace talks in 1993. General Mohamed Farrah Aidid however, believed the UN and the US were attempting to impose colonial rule on Somalia (Purvis, 1993). During the Adis Ababa peace talks Aidid said that his faction

“no longer has any confidence in the leadership of the Secretariat of the UN…from the secretary-general downwards, they have failed time and time again to demonstrate an understanding of the intricate political problems of Somalia”. He believed UN officials to be “too meddling, too divisive, and too secretive” (Meisler, 1993, para. 4).

Aidid was a nationalist and believed he would not let his country become an experiment in state building by those ignorant of its political and cultural traditions (Marcus, 1995). Furthermore, these peace building negotiations were fronted by the UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who had been a strong supporter of Siad Barre and who had personally ensured (some years earlier) that Aidid was deported from Egypt.

Aidid was the leader of the Habr Gedir clan, the stronger of the two groups seeking control in Mogadishu. He earned that status through toppling the dictator Siad Barre and then completely rooting out Siad’s attempted comeback. The UN attempted to marginalise Aidid and create a new political system without him or the Somali National Alliance (SNA) (Peterson, 2000). This was widely resented by Aidid’s large following of Somalis.

In 1992, 28,000 US troops opened fire on unarmed Somali protestors. In July 1993 a clan meeting was held at the house of an Aidid official to discuss a peace proposal from the UN’s main official, Admiral Jonathan Howe. Many clan members opposed to Aidid were present when the gathering was attacked by a US mission that had been wrongly informed Aidid was inside. Religious leaders and clan elders were slaughtered in one blow and an enraged Somali crowd then killed four journalists who arrived to cover the carnage (PBS, 2013).

US troops began to target Aidid. The US backed the UN to begin “inspections” of Aidid’s radio station with an aim of closing it down, while leaving the station run by his rival, Ali Mahdi. Aidid’s interior minister warned the US to do so would mean war. An independent UN inquiry later deemed this decision to be “ill-advised” and the “worst time” for this activity. However, UN Pakistani troops went to the radio station and were met by an angry mob of Somalis who attacked. The special “peace” mission of the UN evaporated and this American-approved “inspection” was the largest single-day massacre of UN peacekeeping troops since 1961 (Peterson, 2000). One of the biggest atrocities of this was the dismemberment of the bodies of UN Pakistani troops (Purvis, 1993).

The UN began preparing a counterattack and the hundreds of UNISOM staff – whose mission, ironically had been to rebuild Somalia – were down to less than 50. The US put a $25,000 bounty on the head of Aidid with the aim of arresting him to try him for war crimes (Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations, 2007). In 1993, after failed previous attempts, President Bill Clinton ordered a force of United States Army Rangers and Special Forces to capture a number of Aidid’s officials in Mogadishu. The attempt failed and in one night two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and trapped with two special forces units in the centre of Mogadishu. That night 18 Americans, one Malayan troop, and more than 1,000 Somalis, most of them women and children, were killed. It was the bloodiest battle involving US troops since Vietnam and is most widely known through the 2001 American war film of Black Hawk Down. The US Somalia expedition was the largest concentration of American troops on African soil in history and Somalia received more media coverage in American media in the space of one year than any other African country in history (Kareitha and Kariithi, 2008).

Unfortunately, the situation on the ground deteriorated and in 1994 American and European units in the UN force withdrew due to the unacceptable level of casualties. The situation continued to deteriorate and in 1995, the remaining UN forces evacuated and Aidid declared himself as President of Somalia. President Aidid died of gunshot wounds in 1996. His son, Hussein Mohamed Farrah, who was a US citizen after living there for 16 years and a US marine who had served in Somalia, was selected by the Somali National Alliance (SNA) to become the new president of Somalia. He resigned his position in Cairo, Egypt following a peace process.

At the end of the 1990s, the only remotely stable region was the breakaway republic of Somaliland (Bamber, 2001). Somaliland formed a hybrid system of governance under the Constitution of Somaliland, combining traditional and western institutions. Through a series of inter-clan conferences a clan system of governance was constructed. The constitution separates the government into an executive branch, legislative branch and a judicial branch, all of which

function independently from the others. A traditional Somali council of elders that included wise men from every clan, was formed by the Somali National Movement after the fall of Siad Barre’s regime. This council of elders worked with rebel leaders to set up a new government, and was incorporated into the governance structure, becoming the Parliament’s House of Elders. In 2002, Somaliland transitioned to a multi-party democracy (Hersi, 2009). The elections were limited to three parties to create ideology as opposed to clan, based elections.

Recent Events: 2000-2010

During 1997-2000 there was no President of Somalia as a result of civil conflict. Eventually an internationally recognised Transitional National Government (TNG) was formed in 2000-2004. The TNG faced steep opposition from the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), which was formed by rival leaders. The TNG suffered both internal threats and disruptive foreign intervention. This resulted in the replacement of the Prime Minister four times in three years and the administrative body reported bankruptcy in 2003 (Janaale Media, 2012). In 2004, an internationally supported National Reconciliation Conference resulted in the creation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia with Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as President. This replaced the TNG and was tasked with moving Somalia out of transition by August 2009 (Hanson, and Keplan, 2008).

The Islamic Courts strongly opposed the TFG and after conflict in 2006 they took control of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu (BBC News, 2006). Somalia’s TFG, supported by Ethiopian troops ousted the Islamic Courts in December 2006. The involvement of Ethiopian troops created further resistance towards the TFG. The Islamic Courts leadership moved to Eritrea and in this vacuum of leadership for the resistance, Al-Shabaab through a secretive leadership began slowly taking over its control. Many Somalis joined the fight against the Ethiopian forces and few were aware of or fully understood the objectives of Al-Shabaab. During 2007, the true leaders of Al-Shabaab emerged along with their ties with Al-Qaeda (Dagne, 2011). In 2008, the US Government

designated Al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (National Counterterrorism Center, 2013).

Yusuf remained in power in Somalia until 2008 when he resigned after a fierce power struggle with his Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein who was supported by parliament after Yusuf had tried to sack him. Yusuf was a long ally to Ethiopia and a foe of Somalia’s extreme Islamists in the south. His requests for Ethiopia’s help in ousting the Islamists were not popular amongst many in Somalia (BBC News, 2008a). Furthermore, he always lacked support as he is from a northern based clan while Mogadishu the capital of Somalia is dominated by the southern Hawiye clan. After an interim period, Shairf Sheikh Ahmed was elected as President in 2009. Mid 2012, Ahmed’s term as President of Somalia officially ended, concurrent with the conclusions of the Transitional Federal Government’s mandate and the start of the Federal Government of Somalia. Ahmed was succeeded in office by the interim President General Muse Hassan Sheikh Sayid Abdulle. Shortly after, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected as President of Somalia (BBC, 2012).

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was chosen as the first president of Puntland in 1998 by a delegation of traditional leaders for a three year term. Yusuf is from the Darod clan based in the northern Puntland region. Yusuf’s term expired in 2001 after an unsuccessful bid to extend his term. Elections were held however, forces loyal to the former president refused to recognise the result and attacked and captured Garowe the capital of Puntland in late 2001. Clashes continued until 2002 when Yusuf’s forces seized the last remaining stronghold and thus, had full control of Puntland. In 2004, Yusuf was elected transitional president of Somalia and as such he gave up the presidency in Puntland to Mohamed Abdi Hashi until January 2005 when Hashi lost a re- election bid in parliament to General Mohamud Muse Hersi (African Elections Database, 2010).

In March 2005, President Muse of Puntland commissioned an airport to be built in the coastal city of Bosaso, which is now complete. In April 2007, Muse held meetings with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates where the

two leaders signed an agreement that established a dedicated livestock quarantine facility to enable the import of livestock from Somalia to UAE. In 2008, Muse signed several agreements with Dubai’s Lootah group to support the construction of an airport, seaport and free zone in Bosaso (AMEinfo, 2007). Muse’s objective was to improve prosperity, health and education services.

In January 2009, Abdirahman Mohamud Farole ran for President of Puntland in the elections and won. Farole was a previous cabinet member until a dispute with Muse over a deal with an Australian oil company – Range Resources – led to his departure to Australia in 2006. Farole expressed doubts with regard to the agreements legality and described the process as far from transparent. Despite political tensions prior to the voting, the election itself was reportedly peaceful. In an effort to improve transparency, the new president issued a first-ever ‘100 Days in Office report’ (Omar, 2012).

In December 2009, Puntland’s parliament introduced a new state flag. The top blue stripe and white centre star symbolising the Flag of Somalia. The centre white stripe representing peace and stability in the region. The bottom green stripe illustrating the natural wealth of the Puntland State of Somalia.

Despite elections and transitional governments, Somalia remains in a state of crisis, with Al-Shabaab and other militias causing constant insecurity and outbreaks of violence. The number of Somali refugees has continued to rise with estimates indicating 1,033,559 Somalis hold refugee status in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and further afield in Europe and the United States of America. Additionally, there is an estimated 1,360,000 internally displaced people (UNHCR, 2013a) in Somalia. Somalia also has a high number of destitute people, people whose livelihoods have been completely destroyed through conflicts and natural disasters.