Remember Remember SomaliaSomalia

About SomaliaAbout Somalia• Government type:

in the process of building a federated parliamentary republic,

Since 1991

• Ethnic groups: Somali 85%, Bantu and other non-Somali 15% (including Arabs 30,000)

• Religions: Sunni Muslim

• Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English

Transnational IssuesTransnational Issues

• Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007

• "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera to landlocked Ethiopia and have established commercial ties with other regional states; "Puntland" and "Somaliland" "governments" seek international support in their secessionist aspirations and overlapping border claims; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region

• Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading south across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists

Somalia has been without an effective central government since

President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people.

Timeline…Timeline…• 1960: UK Somali Land united with Italian Somali Land

– Independence: SOMALIA

• 1969: Coup by Mohamed SIAD Barre (Socialist/ USSR)(Socialist/ USSR)• 1991: Siad Barre overthrown by opposing warlords

– WarlordsWarlords controlled Mogadishu!

• Since 1991, over 14 attempts to set up a new government!

• 1993 Black Hawk Down– Mohamed Farrah Aidid

• Warlord who controlled Mogadishu after 1991 • Black Hawk down mission tried to capture• Declared himself Head of Government, killed 1996

– 1993: 2 year UN humanitarian aid mission– 1995: Withdrew, too many UN soldiers killed

– The True Story of Black Hawk Down Aidid

Black Hawk Down.

Part IV

3:26

Republic of Somaliland–

Not officially recognized by ANY country

Baidoa— Former gov’t stronghold

Mogadishu

Puntland

TimelineCon’t• 2004: Warlords and politicians signed a deal to set up a new

parliament. (Called Transitional Federal Government (TFG))• June 2006: Uprising! Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took over

Southern Somalia. TFG in exile in Baidoa– Stability (due to Taliban style Shari’a Law)

• Dec 2006: Ethiopia invaded; ousted Islamic control– US backed• 2008: UIC FOUGHT BACK, and gained back much Southern land• Jan 2009: Ethiopian troops withdrew.

– Al-Shabab (and UIC) controls most of the South• Terrorist group. Means “youth” in Arabic• Allegiance to Al-Qaeda!• “Text Message Insurgency”• Somalia video games boom dents al-Shabaab recruitment

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• AS OF SEPTEMBER 2012:

– 1) Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (president)• Academic and civic activist with little political experience• Appointed an economist and businessman, Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, prime minister to stamp out

nepotism and clan rivalry.

– 2) Al-Shabab lost last urban stronghold!• The major southern port of Kismayo - in October 2012• Along with the major inland town of Wanla Weyn.

Mogadishu: Mogadishu: from to

PIRATES PIRATES MateyMatey• The long-standing absence of authority in the

country led to Somali pirates becoming a major threat to international shipping in the area, and prompted Nato to take the lead in an anti-piracy operation. International efforts were seen to bear fruit in 2012, when pirate attacks dropped sharply.

• In 2011, the plight of the Somali people was exacerbated by the worst drought in six decades, which left millions of people on the verge of starvation and caused tens of thousands to flee to Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food.

• After the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991, the north-west part of Somalia unilaterally declared itself the independent Republic of Somaliland. The territory, whose independence is not recognised by international bodies, has enjoyed relative stability.

'It's a pirate's life for me' A 25-year-old Somali pirate has told the BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan by telephone from the notorious den of Harardhere in central Somalia why he became a sea bandit. Dahir Mohamed Hayeysi says he and his big-spending accomplices are seen by many as heroes.

• I used to be a fisherman with a poor family that depended only on fishing. The first day joining the pirates came into my mind was in 2006. A group of our villagers, mainly fishermen I knew, were arming themselves. One of them told me that they wanted to hijack ships, which he said were looting our sea resources.

'National service' • He told me it was a national service with a lot of money in the end. Then I took my

gun and joined them. Years ago we used to fish a lot, enough for us to eat and sell in the markets. Then illegal fishing and dumping of toxic wastes by foreign fishing vessels affected our livelihood, depleting the fish stocks. I had no other choice but to join my colleagues. The first hijack I attended was in February 2007 when we seized a World Food Programme-chartered ship with 12 crew. I think it had the name of MV Rozen and we released it after two months, with a ransom.

One last job • I am not going to tell you how much it was, or three other hijackings I have been

involved in since. My ambition is to get a lot of money so that I can lead a better life. Now I have two lorries, a luxury car and have started my own business in my town. I only want one more chance in piracy to increase my cash assets, then I will get married and give up. Piracy is not just easy money - it has many risks and difficulties. Sometimes you spend months in the sea to hunt a ship and miss. Sometimes when we are going to hijack a ship we face rough winds, and some of us get sick and some die. Sometimes you fail in capturing and sometimes you come under threat by foreign navies, but all we do is venture.

‘Resolved to Resolved to confront' piracyconfront' piracy