The Somali civil war, which began in 1991, has not only caused destabilisation and instability throughout the country, its spillover effects have been felt in Uganda, the East African region and around the world, writes Risdel Kasasira.
Regionally, the terrorists that have carried out deadly attacks in East Africa have over the years taken advantage of the stateless Somalia to breed terror.
President Barack Obama has described Somalia as “a breeding ground” for terror. This fertile ground for terror has been aided by the long history of the lawlessness caused by the phased factional clan-wars in Mogadishu.
The first phase of this crisis started after the third Somali president Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown on January 26, 1991 by forces royal to Gen. Mohammed Farrah Aidid.
Months after his ousting, his forces made attempts to reinstate him as the president but they were humiliated by the strong force of Gen. Aidid. This crisis led to a violent and chaotic situation that caused a dire humanitarian crisis and society breakdown.
Towards the end of 1991, some northern regions under the guise of insulating their clans from the more violent fighting in the south, decided to secede.
The Somaliland which is mainly dominated by Isaaq clan declared itself independent, though its sovereignty is not recognized by any nation or international organization.
Currently, Somaliland is independent with parliament and a president. Due to continued violence in the southern capital of Mogadishu, the United Nations under resolution 794 created the first mission to provide humanitarian relief and help restore order.
The same resolution approved the creation of a coalition of peacekeepers led by the United States of America to ensure that humanitarian aid was distributed to the hungry displaced persons.
Oil target
The peacekeepers landed in Somalia in 1993 for a two-year mission in the south. However, critics of US involvement say that the Americans were targeting oil wells discovered in the south before president Barre was ousted.
“Americans were in for oil concessions not peacekeeping because Barre had shown interest to give concessions to American companies to drill explore oil,” said a Somali Journalist working with a news agency in Nairobi.
He, however, says the deployment of peacekeepers helped the refugees who had fled fighting in Mogadishu to access food. The UN then embarked on a military occupation of Somalia and made an attempt at full disarmament of its population, with the intent to re-establish a Western-style central government.
But this campaign resulted into more violence, as the Somali tribes resisted and fought to preserve their traditional systems.
Towards the end of 1993, several gun battles in Mogadishu between local gunmen and peacekeepers resulted in the death of 24 Pakistanis and 19 US soldiers.
America withdraws
These deaths forced peacekeepers to withdraw on March 3, 1995, after the US soldiers were killed and dragged on the Mogadishu streets. The fighting subsided after this.
But the war between clan factional armies began. Gen. Aidid was ousted by Osman Ali Atto who recalled the UN to rebuild Somalia but met resistance from Gen. Aidid forces who launched attacks and seized the southern town of Bidoa.
“At this time, Somalia was at cross-roads and that’s when the infrastructure like parliament in Mogadishu and hotels in Bidoa were completely destroyed,” said Ahmed Banadir, a Somali refugee in Uganda.
Mr Banadir said Gen. Aidid died of gunshots in August 2006, sustained a week earlier by his rivals. His wife fled to Uganda and she has been living here with her kids.
After Gen. Aidid’s death, clan militias divided Somalia into factional units until 1997 when they attempted to reconcile. Between 1997 and 2001, a number of reconciliation meetings were held in Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and Bidoa but yielded no results.
2001 National Commission for Reconciliation
In May 2001, an effort to create a 25-member working body, dubbed the National Commission for Reconciliation and Property Settlement (NCRPS), was damaged when Abdirizak Haji Hussein, former Prime Minister, was named as its head because the warring clans never liked him.
The Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council, composed of different factional group leaders and Puntland leadership, which seceded, refused him and he resigned on July 25, 2001.
In January 2004, a promising conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya, at which the Transitional Federal Government was agreed to. “This is when the International community and the neighbouring were starting to get concerned again and there was hope after the TFG was agreed upon by the factions but that didn’t go well with other groups that later formed Union of Islamic Courts,” Benadir said.
Ten months, later, the President of “Puntland”, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, was elected President of TFG. President Yusuf avoided Mogadishu and moved to Baidoa to establish his government because there was chaos in Mogadishu.
Source: Sunday Monitor
No comments:
Post a Comment