The Genesis of the Civil War in Somalia

The Impact of Foreign Military Intervention on the Conflict

Muuse Yuusuf

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780755627103
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politik & Internationale Beziehungen
• Subtopic: Internationale Beziehungen

This study explores the genesis of the civil war in Somalia by analysing the defeat of Somalia in the 1977 Ogaden war, asserting that this defeat, which was prompted by the intervention of the USSR, was a turning point which unleashed long term socio-political forces that led to the collapse of the central government of the country. Muuse Yuusuf analyses the history of the Somali civil war, from 1977 to the present, and the role played by various actors in the conflict such as local clans, warlords and foreign powers, and examines the present day by-products of the war, such as religious extremism. Crucially, Yuusuf looks beyond the mainstream explanation for the conflict – that of rival clans fighting over resources. By recognising the impact of foreign military interventions in Somalia, from superpower rivalry during the cold war to the war-on-terror, on the initiation and perpetuation of the Somali conflict, the book attempts to identify foreign military intervention as a new paradigm in the discourse around it.

1

The historical context of the Ogaden war

The Ogaden region

The Ogaden region, where the conflict took place, covers around 370,000–400,000 square kilometres with an estimated population of about 4–5 million¹ who are mainly ethnic Somalis from the Ogaden clan and other Somali clans. The region is also known by Somalis as ‘Soomaali Galbeed’, ‘western Somalia’, a term preferred by Somali nationalists. It has borders with Somalia to the north, east and south; Ethiopia to the west; Djibouti to the north; and Kenya to the south-west. It is a semi-arid plateau with an average annual rainfall of 350 millimetres or less. The region suffers from frequent droughts, for example, in 1984–5, 1994 and 1999–2000.

At present, the region is internationally recognized as an autonomous province in Ethiopia that falls within that country’s sovereignty, and it is the ninth state of Ethiopia’s ethnic-based federal structure. The region is the poorest in Ethiopia, but it is rich in natural resources – copper, gas, petroleum and gold.²

However, Somalis have territorial claims over the province and believe that the region has always been part of Greater Somali nation, and that Ethiopia expropriated it by force, supported by European colonial powers which also divided the Somali nation into five regions: British Somaliland Protectorate in north-west regions, Italian Somali colony in north-east, central and south-western Somalia, the Ogaden region in Ethiopia, the Somali region in north-east Kenya and French Somaliland in present-day Djibouti.

Somalis have never accepted the division of their nation. Their determination to liberate Somali territories stirred awareness of strong nationalism as it shaped their foreign policy and relationship with their neighbours and outside world. They fought wars to liberate the occupied territories during colonial times and after Somalia’s independence in 1960.

Following is an overview of Somali clans’ wars with Ethiopia, the colonial division of their nation and the rise of Somali nationalism leading to the 1977 Ogaden war.

Holy wars of Imam Ahmed Gurey

As early as the thirteenth century, Somalis participated in holy wars between Abyssinian Christian Kingdoms (now Ethiopia) and a loose confederation of Islamic Arab states in the Horn of Africa, such as Ifat, Dawaro, Bale and Hadiya states. It was after the defeat of Muslim forces under the leadership of Sa’d ad-Din of the Walashma Arab dynasty, ruler of the Ifat state, in 1415 by the Abyssinian emperor Negus Yeshaq (1414–29) that the name ‘Somali’ was recorded for the first time in an Abyssinian song, celebrating the emperor’s victory over Muslims. In that song, Somalis were mentioned as among the defeated foes. Sa’d ad-Din was killed on an island off the coast of Zeila town in Somalia.³

After the Ifat sultanate had disintegrated, Muslim power declined for some time. However, in the second decade of the sixteenth century the Adal emirate which was one of the oldest and most famous Muslim emirates and was once part of the defeated Ifat sultanate, became the base for another wave of holy wars between the Abyssinian Christian Kingdoms and Muslim emirates. The Adal emirate acquired a new leader by the name of Ahmed ibn Ibrahim Al-ghazi, born c. 1506, better known as Ahmed Gran (Axmed Gurey), or the left handed, after he had overthrown the Walashma dynasty rulers. The Imam was a famous warrior who took up the religious title of Imam in order to wage a holy war against the Abyssinians.⁴ The Somali clans in the Ogaden and north regions, mainly Daarood and Dir clans, fell under the control of the Adal sultanate based in Harar town in present-day Ethiopia. After raising an army of Somalis and ethnic Afars, the Imam and his army, supported by Turkish forces (the Ottoman Empire), conquered most of Abyssinia, including Abyssinian highlands, in less than ten years.

The Imam’s victory did not last long and in 1542 the Abyssinian emperor, Galawdewos, with the help of Portuguese forces decisively defeated his army. Imam Ahmed Gurey was killed in fighting near Tana Lake, and with his death, the Adal emirate collapsed.⁵

Presence of and interference by foreign superpowers played a crucial role in the conflict, and, as mentioned earlier, the warring parties had sought foreign support; for example, Turkish military support enabled the Adal state to conquer Abyssinia, whereas the Portuguese helped Abyssinia to defeat the Adal state.

Somalis played a remarkable role in the conquest of Abyssinia by Muslim states in the Horn of Africa. It is, however, unclear the extent to which Somalis were part of these states and whether they were under their jurisdiction. This is because some other ethnic groups, such as Afars, were part of the Muslim states. Furthermore, Somali clans did not traditionally come under formal centralized state structure until their independence in 1960. Nevertheless, it would appear Muslim states had exerted some influence over Somalis because some Somali coastal towns like Zeila and Berbera in the north-west region of present-day Somalia had flourished during their reign.⁶

Although Imam Ahmed Gurey was related to Somalis by marriage and united Somali clansmen, mainly Daarood and Dir, under his leadership during his holy wars, historians debate over his ethnic identity.⁷ However, Somalis considered him as one of them, and he became a folk hero and the first significant Somali national hero character. Indeed, the Somali government erected a statue in Mogadishu to honour the Imam.

Colonial powers divide the Somali nation

The Somali coastal towns along the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea were a passageway for trade centres in Africa and Asia from Egypt to the Arabian Peninsula and far places like China as early as the tenth century and well before that. The coastal zones attracted foreign powers’ attention, including the Ottoman Empire, Arab and Muslim emirates and Portugal, which fro m 1499 to 1518 looted and destroyed coastal towns, such as Mogadishu, Berbera, Zeila and Baraawa. It was, however, in the nineteenth century when Somali coastal towns attracted European colonial powers’ attention and their infamous but fateful scramble for Africa.

British involvement in northern Somali coast began in 1825 after what became known the incident of Mary Ann, a British brig, which was blundered off the Berbera coast by Somalis and the British blockage of the coast until 1833.⁸ However, it was after the annexation of the port of Aden in Yemen by Britain in 1839–40 that Britain’s interest in the region grew stronger. The British interest was for logistical reasons because Britain needed continuous supply of meat to feed its soldiers at the Aden garrison to protect its trade route to its Indian colony. Indeed, the Aden garrison was entirely dependent on meat supply from Somali clans’ livestock in north-west regions of the Somali nation.⁹ Hence, British colonial administrations signed treaties with Somali clans in north-west regions as they had been doing since 1827.

Furthermore, after the British explorer Richard Burton’s visit to the Horn of Africa in 1854 and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, realizing the strategic importance of the Somalis coastal towns to its international trade routes, the British established the Somali Coast Protectorate in north-west regions, which later became known as the British Somaliland Protectorate. The colony was administered by the India Office in London from 1884 to 1898 and then by the Foreign Office until 1907 when the Colonial Office in London took control of the colony.

That British adventure was followed by France which in 1859 signed treaties with the Afar people to get access to the small port of Obock in the Red Sea north of present-day Djibouti as a trading route. It continued its territorial ambition and after entering further treaties with the Somali clan of Isse and other arbitrary ‘colonial border treaties’ with Britain, France annexed Jibuti (Djibouti) to its colony. Because of colonial rivalry to control the Red Sea, Britain closed the port of Aden in Yemen to French shipping, and as a consequence of this France built a coaling station for its Suez bound ships at Djibouti, which became the official capital of the French colony in the region.¹⁰ By 1916, France built a railway connecting Djibouti to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, thus completing its domination. The new French colony became known as the French Somaliland.

The French adventure was followed by Italy with its colonial efforts in East Africa and Somalia starting from Foreign Minister Pasquale Mancini’s colonial expansion programme from 1885 to acquire new settlements and commercial interests to enhance his country’s economic interests.¹¹ By 1885, Italy conquered Massawa in Eritrea, and gradually occupied Ethiopia and Somalia, sending Antonio Cecchi, an Italian explorer, to explore the Juba river and Somalia. These exploration missions led to protracted negotiations with the sultans of the Zanzibar sultanate, which was occupying the coastal region of Benaadir in southern Somalia. In the first instance, Italians failed to acquire commercial access to the coastal towns, such as Brava, Marka, Mogadishu and particularly the Kismayo port because of intense colonial interests by Britain, France, Germany and Arab emirates and states.¹² By 1893, Italy consolidated its power in Somalia, and the Benaadir ports came under Italian control after it was granted a lease of these ports by the Zanzibar sultanate with the help of the British.¹³

The Filonardi Company, owned by Vincenso Filonardi, an influential Italian in East Africa and the first Italian consular in Zanzibar, was deployed in southern Somalia and was used as a tool of indirect rule by the Italian government. In addition to these treaties with other colonial powers in the region, in this early stage of colonization Italians also used a mixture of force and treaties with Somali clans, kings and sultans, such as sultans of Obia, Alula and Geledi, to conquer Somali territories.

By 1923, Italy realized its final conquest of Somalia after the Italian fascist government of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 to 28 April 1945) had ordered occupation of all Somalia by force. This was a departure from the peaceful occupation of Somali territories. From there on Italy pursued its policy of forced occupation, which led to armed resistance movements across the country.

One of these revolts was the Barsana revolt, in which Sheikh Hassan Barsana, a spiritual leader of the Barsana people, a sub-clan of Gaaljecel of Hawiye clan family in southern Somalia, led an armed campaign against the Italian fascist government under its governor of Somalia, Maria Cesar De Vecchi. The Barsana revolt was the first resistance against the fascist government’s policy of disarming Somali clans by force, hence the Barsana clan taking the honour of becoming the first to oppose the Italian fascists.¹⁴ The Italians put down Sheikh Hassan Barsana’s revolt after a series of battles involving the two parties. The spiritual leader was captured and later died in prison in 1927.

While the first wave of dividing the Somali nation by European powers was underway, the Abyssinian empire was extending its influence and domination from the Ethiopian highlands in what was the beginning of the Ethiopian imperialism in the region.¹⁵ Even before he became an emperor, the Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II, born on 17 August 1844 and baptized as Sahle Maryam, had conducted military campaigns in order to conquer Somalis and other ethnic groups, such as Oromos and Afars. He captured the city of Harar in 1887, killing its Muslim ruler Abdallah Muhammad whom, according to a message to the British colonial administration at Aden in Yemen, Menelik regarded as the successor (embodiment) of the late Muslim conqueror Imam Ahmed Gurey. Menelik saw the defeat of the Muslim ruler as vindication of Christian sovereignty.¹⁶

Menelik consolidated his power and assumed the title of King of Kings and was enthroned King on April 1889 after the death of King John of Tigre, another rival king, who was killed in 1889 in fighting with the Mahdists of the Sudan at the battle of Galabat. He made Addis Ababa his empire’s power base. The new emperor concluded the Uccialli (Wichale) Treaty in 1889 with Italy, which had already consolidated its power in the Horn and occupied Eritrea. The treaty allowed Ethiopia to be part of the European powers club, known as the Brussels Gen eral Act, and to import weapons as a Christian state.¹⁷

It was around that time when Menelik wrote and sent his famous circular letter to European colonial powers in 1891 defining the ancient boundaries of Abyssinia. In the circular, he claimed large parts of the Somali nation, including the Ogaden region and northern regions as part of his kingdom; he also warned European powers that his kingdom would not stand by while they divide the Horn among themselves.¹⁸

Under the Ucci...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Breakdown of chapters
• 1 The historical context of the Ogaden war
• 2 The Ogaden war: One of the biggest conflicts in Africa
• 3 Implication of the Ogaden defeat
• 4 The ugly face of the civil war
• 5 The rise of Somaliland and Puntland
• 6 The war on terror prolongs the conflict
• 7 Positive news amid the ruins
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright