The Somali Civil War (23 May 1986-) is an ongoing civil war in Somalia. The war grew out of resistance to Siad Barre's communist military junta during the 1980s, and Barre's overthrow in 1991 led to warlords and armed groups carving up the country. The United Nations intervened in the civil war from 1992 to 1995 in "Operation Restore Hope" and UNOSOM II, but they failed to restore order to the country. In 1996, the rebels reached a peace agreement, and a transitional national government was formed in 2000. However, Somalia's central government was weakened by continued regional instability, as Somaliland and Puntland formed highly autonomous regional governments, and armed groups continued to wield considerable amounts of power. In 2006, the al-Qaeda-backed Islamic Courts Union conquered the capital of Mogadishu and took over much of the country, leading to Ethiopian military intervention in the civil war from 2006 to 2009. This resulted in a compromise between the "Transitional Federal Government" and the Islamists, with moderate Islamist leader and Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia chairman Sharif Sheikh Ahmed becoming President. However, the civil war continued as the moderate Islamists in power fought against radical Islamists from groups such as al-Shabaab, Hizbul Islam, and, after 2015, the Islamic State. Over 500,000 people died during the war, while over 1,000,000 were displaced.
Background[]
Barre regime[]
The country of Somalia was formed on 1 July 1960 when the former Italian Somaliland and the former British Somaliland were unified and granted independence as a united republic. In 1969, the Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in a bloodless putsch and renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic. At the head of the ruling military junta was Siad Barre, who turned the country into an authoritarian state ruled by the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. Rebel groups were formed in neighboring Ethiopia to oppose Barre's communist dictatorship, and Somali rebels fought alongside Ethiopia against Somalia in the 1977 Ogaden War. In 1986, Barre was nearly killed in a car accident, leading to a power struggle between possible successors. In an effort to hold onto power, the Supreme Revolutionary Council became increasingly totalitarian, and Barre abandoned appeals to nationalism in favor of exploiting existing clan animosities.
War[]
Somali Rebellion[]
A Somali fighter manning an anti-aircraft gun
By the mid-1980s, more resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration had sprung up across the country. Barre ordered punitive measures against those accused of supporting the guerrillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the Somali National Movement stronghold of Hargeysa being targeted in 1988. Barre's heavy-handed tactics strengthened the appeal of the various rebel movements, whose only common goal was the overthrow of his government. In addition, the chaos in Somalia led to many coastal Somalis taking to piracy to sustain themselves.
By mid-1990, the United Somali Congress, led by Mohamed Farrah Aidid, had captured most of the towns and villages surrounding Mogadishu, and Barre was ironically nicknamed "Mayor of Mogadishu" due to his limited control over the country. By January 1991, the USC had managed to defeat the Red Berets in Mogadishu, and the remainder of the government troops collapsed soon after (some became regional forces and clan militias).
Farrah's takeover[]
Territories controlled by the armed factions, 1992.
After the USC's victory over Barre's troops, the other opposition groups declined to cooperate with it, and the opposition groups competed for power in the power vacuum following Barre's overthrow.
In April-May 1991, SNM secessionists proclaimed the independence of northwestern Somalia as Somaliland, with SNM leader Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur serving as President.
In 1992, after four months of heavy fighting in Mogadishu, a ceasefire was agreed between Ali Mahdi Mohamed and USC leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid, and a greenline divided the north and south of the city, which was divided between the two of them.
UN intervention[]
Somalis scrambling to get food
From 1991 to 1992, Somalia underwent a horrific famine as the result of the destruction of the local agricultural sector by war, with 300,000 people dying of starvation. The United Nations responded with UNOSOM I in April 1992, sending humanitarian supplies to the Somali people while attempting to negotiate a ceasefire. However, the ceasefire was ignored by the warring Somali factions, and Somali militias raided relief convoys to steal their food and medical supplies. By November 1992, Aidid had grown confident enough to demand the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces from Somalia, and he declared hostile intent against any further UN deployments. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali responded by forming a US-led peacekeeping force, the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), which launched Operation Restore Hope in December 1992. UN peacekeepers occupied Mogadishu, Bardera, Baidoa, and other key cities, and they were assigned to protect aid convoys. In 1993, the UN started UNOSOM II in the south, using all necessary means to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Hunt for Aidid[]
US troops on a street in Somalia
On 5 June 1993, Somali militias attacked Pakistani peacekeepers, leading to the UN declaring war on Aidid's army. This led to the bloody Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993, during which the US Army Rangers failed to apprehend Aidid, losing two Black Hawk helicopters in the process. The UN intervention caused a rare display of unity by the Somali militias, who again had a common enemy to fight - the UN peacekeepers. Somalis who were angry at the UN for failing to disarm the warlords went on to join the warlords, and Islamism was also spread among the Somali people by militia leaders who sought to use religion to justify anti-UN sentiment. On 3 March 1995, the UN forces in Somalia withdrew altogether due to the failure of their manhunt for Aidid.
1995-2000[]
A Somali fighter on a machine-gun
After UNOSOM's departure in March 1995, clashes between Somali militia groups died down, as they focused on consolidating their gains in the aftermath of the UN withdrawal. On 15 June 1995, Aidid declared himself President of Somalia, but he received no recognition, as his rival Ali Mahdi Muhammad had been elected interim President at a conference in Djibouti and received international recognition. In September 1995, Aidid responded by having his militia overrun Baidoa in the south, but local forces recaptured the city in January 1996. In 1996, Aidid fought against his former ally Osman Ali Atto for control of Mogadishu and Merca, and Aidid was mortally wounded at Merca, dying in August 1996. In 1998, a homegrown constitutional conference was held in Garowe, and the area's political elite, traditional elders, businesspeople, intellectuals, and civil servants proclaimed the creation of the autonomous state of Puntland.
In May 1999, Aidid's son Hussein Farrah Aidid and his Somali National Alliance, backed by Eritrea and Uganda, occupied Baidoa. However, in June 1999, they were driven back by local militias and a 3,000-strong Ethiopian force, which employed tanks and artillery against the SNA. In 2000, a Transitional National Government was established, giving Somalia a nominally unified government for the first time since Barre's regime.
Transitional Federal Government[]
A crowd celebrating Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's inauguration in 2004
In 2004, a Transitional Federal Government was formed in Nairobi, Kenya, with Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed serving as its president. However, political instability continued due to the rise of a new threat, the Islamic Courts Union.
The Islamic Courts Union was formed as an alliance of local sharia-based Islamic courts which had become the main judicial system in Somalia following Barre's overthrow. The courts provided education and health care during the 1990s, were paid by businesses to maintain a police force, halted crimes such as robbery and drug dealing, and later formed an armed militia. In 1999, the sharia courts of Ifka Halan, Circolo, Warshadda, and Hararyaale formed a committee to coordinate their affairs, and the group began to assert its authority. Supporters of the courts formed the ICU armed militia, which took over Mogadishu's main market in April 1999 and captured the Mogadishu-Afgoi road in July. In 2000, the courts formed a union of Islamic courts, consolidating resources and power, as well as gaining the ability to exercise power across clan lines (despite being dominated by the Hawiye clan).
The ICU received backing from the government of Eritrea, which sent shiploads of arms to the ICU in southern Somalia, sent advisers, engineers, and mine-laying experts, and financed the group. Another key backer was Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, who sent fighters to train and assist the ICU. These foreign Arab fighters introduced suicide bombing tactics to Somalia, preparing the ICU for war.
Advance and Fall of the Islamic Courts Union[]
ICU fighters preparing to punish a man accused of breaking sharia
As the courts began to assert themselves as the dispensers of justice, they came into conflict with the secular warlords who controlled most of Mogadishu. The warlords formed a US-funded alliance against the ICU, and, from 7 May to 11 July 2006, the ICU and the warlords fought for control of the city. The ICU forces overwhelmed the warlords' forces, and its forces would rapidly advance into southern Somalia, taking over Harardhere on 24 August and Kismayo in September 2006. The ICU reopened Mogadishu International Airport, which had been closed since 1995, and it also reopened the Mogadishu seaport. However, on 28 December 2006, the TFG government, backed by Ethiopian forces, launched a counterattack to recapture the capital. The ICU acknowledged its defeat, asking for its fighters to get ready in their police stations and other security installations. After the TFG-Ethiopian forces retook Jilib on New Year's Day of 2007, the ICU abandoned Kismayo, and the ICU retreated in January 2007. Its leaders vowed to wage guerrilla warfare, and they withdrew to Ras Kamboni, which was the site of a battle between the Islamist forces and the TFG, Ethiopia, and USA from 5 to 12 January 2007. US and Ethiopian aircraft bombed the ICU forces in the city, leading to their defeat.
Islamist insurgency[]
TFG troops near Baidoa, 2006
As the ICU was defeated in Ras Kamboni, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed entered Mogadishu, moving the TFG's capital from Baidoa to the old capital. However, he was viewed as an Ethiopian puppet, and his TFG soldiers engaged in kidnapping, assaults, and rape. Within weeks, an insurgency broke out against the TFG and Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu. The African Union formed the AMISOM peacekeeping mission in March 2007, establishing a triangle of protection around Mogadishu's airport, seaport, and the Villa Somalia.
The arrival of Ethiopian and AMISOM peacekeepers led to the Islamists rallying, as they declared jihad on the foreign occupiers. The ICU splintered into various factions following its defeat, including the radical al-Shabaab. Throughout 2007 and 2008, al-Shabaab scored several victories, taking over much of southern and central Somalia. At the end of 2008, al-Shabaab captured Baidoa, threatening Mogadishu. Ethiopia was surprised by the insurgency's persistence and strength, and became frustrated with the TFG's chronic internal problems. By January 2009, al-Shabaab and other militias had forced the Ethiopians to retreat, leaving behind an understaffed AMISOM peacekeeping force. President Yusuf deployed thousands of troops from Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the battle against the insurgents in the south, with the region's autonomous government funding his war. This left Puntland's security forces and civil service employees underfunded, leading to increased piracy and terrorism in the region. On 29 December 2008, President Yusuf resigned, regretting his inability to end the 17-year-old civil war.
Government counteroffensive of 2009[]
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed arriving in Mogadishu, 7 February 2009
Between 31 May and 9 June 2008, the Somali government and the moderate Islamist Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia held peace talks in Djibouti, and the Ethiopian troops agreed to withdraw in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. Parliament was expanded to 550 seats to accomodate ARS members, which then elected the former ARS chairman Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as president. With the help of AMISOM, the coalition government began a counteroffensive into southern Somalia in February 2009, with the TFG forming an alliance with the ICU, the ARS, and the moderate Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a Sufi militia. The two main Islamist groups in opposition, al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009, helping the government forces. In March 2009, the government decided on a truce with the rebels in exchange for re-implementing sharia as the nation's official judicial system. However, conflict continued in southern and central Somalia, and the government lost 80% of disputed southern Somalia to the ICU.
Kenyan invasion[]
Kenyan troops in Kismayo
In November 2010, a new technocratic government was elected to office, and it completed its first monthly payment of stipends to government soldiers after its first 50 days in office. On 6 August 2011, al-Shabaab was forced to withdraw from most areas of Mogadishu, and the government and its AMISOM allies evicted al-Shabaab from the northern parts of the city in January 2012. In October 2011, Kenyan and Somali forces cooperated towards evicting al-Shabaab forces from southern Somalia in Operation Linda Nchi, and the Kenyans were formally integrated into AMISOM in June 2012. In September-October 2012, Kenyan AMISOM troops and the Raskamboni Movement recaptured Kismayo from al-Shabaab, recapturing al-Shabaab's last major stronghold. In September 2012, the Federal Government of Somalia was established. By 2013, al-Shabaab was left in control of several rural areas, where their operatives disappeared into local communities.
Resurgence of al-Shabaab[]
A propaganda piece commemorating Moktar Ali Zubeyr
In January 2014, Ethiopian troops joined the AMISOM mission, and AMISOM launched a fresh offensive against al-Shabaab in March 2014. By 26 March, the allies had liberated ten towns, making great progress. On 1 September 2014, al-Shabaab leader Moktar Ali Zubeyr was killed in a US drone strike, with political analysts predicting that his death would lead to al-Shabaab's fragmentation and dissolution. In July 2015, AMISOM and the Somali National Army regained many villages in southern Somalia.
2016 saw the resurgence of al-Shabaab. On 15 January 2016, al-Shabaab overran a Kenyan AMISOM base at El Adde, killing 60 soldiers. It then reclaimed the town of Marka, a mere 28 miles from Mogadishu. On 5 March 2016, the US launched airstrikes on the al-Shabaab terrorist training camp, Camp Raso, killing over 150 terrorists. On 31 May 2016, 2015 Garissa University attack mastermind Mohamed Kuno was killed when his convoy was ambushed by the Somali National Army. Throughout the rest of 2016, the USA stepped up the number of drone attacks conducted against the insurgents. In late March 2017, the new American president, Donald Trump, gave AFRICOM more freedom in counterterrorist operations, and US special forces on the frontlines with Somali forces increased. This was a part of Trump's strategy to combat the Islamic State, which had gained a following in Somalia through defections from al-Shabaab. On 3 November 2017, the US conducted its first airstrikes on the Islamic State in Somalia. By 21 November 2017, it was estimated that there were 3,000-6,000 al-Shabaab and 250 IS fighters left in Somalia.