Civil war in Somalia. Causes, course, consequences

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The civil war in Somalia was not without the intervention of the US military and UN peacekeepers. The dictatorial regime of Mohammed Siad Barre, tired of the inhabitants of the country, forced the citizens of the country to take extreme measures.

Prerequisites for the civil war in Somalia

General Mohammed Siad Barre came to power in 1969 through a military coup. His course was to build socialism while maintaining Islamic laws. Until 1977, the leader received active support from the Soviet Union, which just used the military coup in Somalia for personal purposes. But because of the unleashed war of Mohammed Siad Barre with Ethiopia, also an object of influence of the USSR, the Soviet regime decided to stop helping the Somali dictator. The reason for the civil war in Somalia was subsequently the regime in the country, which began to become more totalitarian and intolerant of dissent. This plunged Somalia into a long-term senseless and bloody confrontation. The civil war in Somalia in 1988-1995, the prerequisites, the course and consequences of which were predetermined, left a serious imprint onSomali statehood as a whole.

Preparing for war. Grouping

In April 1978, a group of Somali army officers attempted a coup by forcibly overthrowing the leader. The rebels were led by Colonel Muhammad Sheikh Usmaan of the Majertine clan. The attempt was unsuccessful, and all the conspirators were sentenced to death. However, one of them, Lieutenant Colonel Abdillaahi Yusuf Ahmad, managed to escape to Ethiopia and organize a special front there called the Somali Salvation Front, which was opposed to the regime of Siad Barre. In October 1982, this group merged with the Workers' Party and democratic forces to form the Somali Democratic Salvation Front.

In parallel with these events, in April 1981, an association of Somali emigrants in London arose - the Somali National Movement (SNM) with the aim of overthrowing the regime, subsequently transferred to Ethiopia.

Military confrontation

January 2, 1982, SND troops attacked government forces, and in particular the Mandera prison, freeing several prisoners. From that moment, a state of emergency began to operate in Somalia, a ban on entry and exit from the territory of northern Somalia was introduced, and in order to prevent flight, it was decided to close the border with Djibouti. The second military invasion happened six months later, when in mid-July all the same rebels from Ethiopia attacked Central Somalia, capturingthe cities of Balumbale and Galdogrob. Due to the threat of the country's split into two parts, the Somali government declared a state of emergency in the conflict zone and called for Western troops to help. The United States and Italy have begun supplying military aid to the Somali regime in the form of military equipment. A civil war broke out throughout the country, only from 1985 to 1986, the SND troops carried out about 30 military operations.

Temporary truce

The last standoff on the road to a short-term truce was in February 1988, when rebels took over the villages around Togochale, a refugee camp. And already on April 4, Mohammed Siad Barre and Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam signed a joint agreement on the restoration of diplomatic relations and the exchange of prisoners of war, the withdrawal of troops from the border zones, and the cessation of subversive activities and propaganda.

Continuation of hostilities as a consequence of the revolution

Further, SND detachments launched their offensives in northern Somalia, as the Ethiopian authorities refused to supply military assistance to the group, as well as provide all kinds of political support. On May 27, the SND forces took control of the city of Burao and Hargeisa. In response, government forces bombarded the city of Hargeisa with heavy aerial bombardments and heavy guns. 300,000 residents of the city were forced to flee to Ethiopia. The popularity of Siad Barre was falling, resulting in the mass executions of prominent people of Somalia and terror against various clans that made upbasis of the country's population.

An important role in the war after the 1990s began to be played by detachments of the United Somali Congress (UCS), which could have easily captured the capital of Mogadishu even then, but the council of elders served as their main obstacle in this, stating that an attack on Mogadishu would provoke mass repression against the civilian population by government forces. Meanwhile, Siad Barre was rampaging the city, provoking citizens to kill each other. On January 19, 1991, USC detachments entered the capital, and on January 26, Siad Barre fled with the remnants of his troops, looting and devastating villages along the way. With his departure, infrastructure and administration disappeared in the country.

Consequences

After the overthrow of the regime of Siad Barre Ali Mahdi Mohammed on January 29 was appointed interim president of the country by decree of the United Congress of Somalia. This was followed by a proposal to other factions to form a new government, to which there was no positive response, and the country was swallowed up by inter-clan clashes and a new struggle for power. At the same time, an attempt was made by Siad Barre to regain his influence, but it proved to be a failure due to the strong resistance of his former general. Particularly bloody were the civil war in Somalia in 1993 in the city of Mogadishu between the US special forces and the grouping of General Aidid, who broke away from the United Congress of Somalia, whose forces were significantly superior to the American ones. As a result of urban clashes, US special forcessuffered serious losses in the form of 19,000 people killed, in connection with which it was decided to withdraw American troops from Somalia and transfer authority to resolve the conflict to UN peacekeeping forces.

The civil war in Somalia and the African Union peacekeeping operation

On September 22, 1999, at the regular session of the UN, the President of Djibouti, I. O. Gulleh, proposed a phased plan for resolving the conflict in Somalia, which also failed. The government forces of the state entity of Somaliland took decisive measures to prevent the implementation of their plans, considering attempts to resolve the conflict as direct interference in the political life of an independent region. Somaliland also suspected that the United States was behind Djibouti, and saw this as a threat to itself, recalling the year 1990.

Today, the territory of Somalia is a community of independent territories, periodically at war with each other, and any attempts to resolve conflicts do not bring tangible results.