History of Somalia

Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliya; aṣ-Ṣūmāl),

officially the Federal Republic of Somalia
(Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka
Soomaaliya, Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl al-
Fideraaliya) and formerly known as the
Somali Democratic Republic, is a country
located in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia was an important centre for

commerce with the rest of the ancient
world,[1][2] and according to most
scholars,[3][4] it is among the most
probable locations of the fabled ancient
Land of Punt.[5][6]

During the Middle Ages, several powerful

Somali states and port towns dominated
the regional trade, the Mogadishu
Sultanate and Ajuran Sultanate both
centered around the port town
Mogadishu, but also the port towns of
Barawe and Merca.

In the late 19th century, through a

succession of treaties with these
kingdoms, the British and Italians gained
control of parts of the coast, and
established British Somaliland and Italian
Somaliland.[7][8] In southern parts of
Somalia, the Italians fought a war with
the Somalis around the port town of
Merca, dubbed the Banadir Resistance. In
the northern parts, Mohammed Abdullah
Hassan's Dervish movement
successfully repulsed the British Empire
four times and forced it to retreat to the
coastal region,[9] but the Dervishes were
finally defeated in 1920 by British
airpower.[10] Italy acquired full control of
the northeastern, central and southern
parts of the territory after successfully
waging a Campaign of the Sultanates
against the ruling Majeerteen Sultanate
and the Sultanate of Hobyo.[8] This
occupation lasted until 1941 when it was
replaced by a British military
administration. Northwestern Somalia
would remain a protectorate, while
northeastern, central and southern
Somalia by agreement became a United
Nations Trusteeship on 1 April 1950, with
a promise of independence after 10
years. On 1 July 1960, the two regions
united as planned to form the
independent Somali Republic under a
civilian government. The Somali National
Assembly, headed by Haji Bashir Ismail
Yusuf, approved the act uniting the
former Italian Somaliland with British
Somaliland, establishing the Republic of
Somalia.[11]

Ancient Somalia domesticated the camel

somewhere between the third millennium
and second millennium BCE from where
it spread to Ancient Egypt and North
Africa.[12]

Prehistory

Neolithic rock art at the Laas Geel complex

depicting a camel.

Somalia has been inhabited since at

least the Paleolithic, when the Doian and
Hargeisan cultures flourished.[13] The
oldest evidence of burial customs in the
Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in
Somalia dating back to the 4th
millennium BC.[14] The stone implements
from the Jalelo site in the north were
also characterized in 1909 as important
artefacts demonstrating the
archaeological universality during the
Paleolithic between the East and the
West.[15]

According to linguists, the first Afro-

Asiatic-speaking populations arrived in
the region during the ensuing Neolithic
period from the family's proposed
urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile
Valley,[16] or the Near East.[17] Other
scholars propose that the Afro-Asiatic
family developed in situ in the Horn, with
its speakers subsequently dispersing
from there.[18]

The Laas Geel complex on the outskirts

of Hargeisa in northwestern Somalia
dates back around 5,000 years, and has
rock art depicting both wild animals and
decorated cows.[19] Other cave paintings
are found in the northern Dhambalin
region, which feature one of the earliest
known depictions of a hunter on
horseback. The rock art is in the
distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated
to 1000 to 3000 BCE.[20][21] Additionally,
between the towns of Las Khorey and El
Ayo in northern Somalia lies
Karinhegane, the site of numerous cave
paintings of real and mythical animals.
Each painting has an inscription below it,
which collectively have been estimated
to be around 2,500 years old.[22][23]

Ancient

Land of Punt

Ancient pyramidical structures,

mausoleums, ruined cities and stone
walls found in Somalia (such as the
Wargaade Wall) are evidence of an old
sophisticated civilization that once
thrived in the Somali peninsula.[24][25] The
findings of archaeological excavations
and research in Somalia show that this
civilization enjoyed a lucrative trading
relationship with Ancient Egypt and
Mycenaean Greece since the second
millennium BCE. This supports the
hypothesis of Somalia and/or the
adjacent Horn territories corresponding
with the ancient Land of Punt.[24][26] The
Puntites traded myrrh, spices, gold,
ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and
frankincense with the Ancient Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians,
Chinese and Romans through their
commercial ports. An Ancient Egyptian
expedition sent to Punt by the 18th
dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded
on the temple reliefs at Deir el-Bahari,
during the reign of the Puntite King
Parahu and Queen Ati.[24]

Macrobia Kingdom

In the classical era, the Macrobians, who

were Proto-Somali, established a
powerful tribal kingdom that ruled large
parts of modern Somalia. They were
reputed for their longevity and wealth,
and were said to be the "tallest and
handsomest of all men".[27] The
Macrobians were warrior herders and
seafarers. According to Herodotus'
account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses
II, upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC),
sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing
luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to
entice his submission. The Macrobian
ruler, who was elected based on his
stature and beauty, replied instead with a
challenge for his Persian counterpart in
the form of an unstrung bow: if the
Persians could manage to draw it, they
would have the right to invade his
country; but until then, they should thank
the gods that the Macrobians never
decided to invade their empire.[27][28] The
Macrobians were a regional power that
were known from east to west and were
highly advanced in architecture and
extremely known for their wealth were
they were noted for its gold, which was
so plentiful that the Macrobians shackled
their prisoners in golden chains.[28]

Somali City States

The Silk Road extending from southern Europe

through Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, Persia, India and
Java until it reaches China.

In the classical period, the Somali city-

states of Mosylon, Opone, Malao,
Sarapion, Mundus, Essina and Tabae in
Somalia developed a lucrative trade
network connecting with merchants from
Phoenicia, Ptolemic Egypt, Greece,
Parthian Persia, Sheba, Nabataea and the
Roman Empire. They used the ancient
Somali maritime vessel known as the
beden to transport their cargo.

After the Roman conquest of the

Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval
presence at Aden to curb pillaging,
Somali and Gulf Arab merchants by
agreement barred Indian ships from
trading in the free port cities of the
Arabian peninsula[29] to protect the
interests of Somali and Arab merchants
in the extremely lucrative ancient Red
Sea–Mediterranean Sea commerce.[30]
However, Indian merchants continued to
trade in the port cities of the Somali
peninsula, which was free from Roman
interference.[31]

For centuries, the Indian merchants

brought large quantities of cinnamon
from Sri Lanka and Indonesia to Somalia
and Arabia. This is said to have been the
best kept secret of the Somali and Gulf
Arab merchants in their trade with the
Roman and Greek world. The Romans
and Greeks believed the source of
cinnamon to have been the Somali
peninsula, but in reality, the highly valued
product was brought to Somalia by way
of Indian ships.[32] Through collusive
agreement by Somali and Gulf Arab
traders, Indian/Chinese cinnamon was
also exported for far higher prices to
North Africa, the Near East and Europe,
which made the cinnamon trade a very
profitable revenue generator, especially
for the Somali merchants through whose
hands large quantities were shipped
across ancient sea and land routes.[30]

Medieval

Ruins of the Sultanate of Adal in Zeila, Somalia.

Islam was introduced to the northern
Somali coast early on from the Arabian
peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's
two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to
the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque
in Africa.[33] In the late 9th century, Al-
Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living
along the northern Somali seaboard.[34]
He also mentioned that the Adal
kingdom had its capital in the city,[34][35]
suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with
Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at
least the 9th or 10th century. Adal's
history from this founding period forth
would be characterized by a succession
of battles with neighbouring
Abyssinia.[35]
Engraving of the 13th century Fakr ad-Din Mosque
built by Fakr ad-Din, the first Sultan of the Sultanate
of Mogadishu.

The Sultanate of Mogadishu's first

dynasty was established by Abubakr bin
Fakhr ad-Din. This ruling house was
succeeded by different dynasties like the
Qahtani, Hilwaani and eventually the
Muzaffar dynasty and remained a
powerful regional trading city-state, being
the first to make use of the gold mines in
Sofala.[36] Eventually at the end of the
16th century the Muzaffarid dynasty
allied themselves to the Somali Ajuran
Empire[37] For many years, Mogadishu
stood as the pre-eminent city in the ‫ﺑﻼد‬
‫اﻟﺒﺮﺑﺮ‬, Bilad-al-Barbar ("Land of the
Berbers"), which was the medieval Arab
term for the Somali coast.[38][39][40][41]
Following his visit to the city, the 12th
century Syrian historian Yaqut al-Hamawi
wrote that it was inhabited by "Berbers",
the ancestors of the modern
Somalis.[42][43][44]
Mogadishan currency – The Sultanate of
Mogadishu was an important monetary supporter
of Adal.

The conquest of Shoa ignited a rivalry for

supremacy between the Christian
Solomonids and the Muslim Ifatites,
which resulted in several devastating
wars and ultimately ended in a
Solomonic victory over the Kingdom of
Ifat. Parts of northwestern Somalia came
under the rule of the Solomonids in
medieval times, especially during the
reign of Amda Seyon I (r. 1314–1344). In
1403 or 1415 (under Emperor Dawit I or
Emperor Yeshaq I, respectively),
measures were taken against the Muslim
Sultanate of Adal. The Emperor
eventually captured King Sa'ad ad-Din II
of the Walashma dynasty in Zeila and
had him executed. The Walashma
Chronicle, however, records the date as
1415, which would make the Ethiopian
victor Emperor Yeshaq I. After the war,
the reigning king had his minstrels
compose a song praising his victory,
which contains the first written record of
the word "Somali". Sa'ad ad-Din II's family
was subsequently given safe haven at
the court of the King of Yemen, where his
sons regrouped and planned their
revenge on the Solomonids.

The oldest son Sabr ad-Din II built a new

capital eastwards of Zeila known as
Dakkar and began referring to himself as
the King of Adal. He continued the war
against the Solomonic Empire. Despite
his army's smaller size, he was able to
defeat the Solomonids at the battles of
Serjan and Zikr Amhara and
consequently pillaged the surrounding
areas. Many similar battles were fought
between the Adalites and the
Solomonids with both sides achieving
victory and suffering defeat but
ultimately Sultan Sabr ad-Din II
successfully managed to drive the
Solomonic army out of Adal territory. He
died a natural death and was succeeded
by his brother Mansur ad-Din who
invaded the capital and royal seat of the
Solomonic Empire and drove Emperor
Dawit II to Yedaya where according to al-
Maqrizi, Sultan Mansur destroyed a
Solomonic army and killed the Emperor.
He then advanced to the mountains of
Mokha, where he encountered a 30,000
strong Solomonic army. The Adalite
soldiers surrounded their enemies and
for two months besieged the trapped
Solomonic soldiers until a truce was
declared in Mansur's favour.
Almnara Tower, Mogadishu.

Later on in the campaign, the Adalites

were struck by a catastrophe when
Sultan Mansur and his brother
Muhammad were captured in battle by
the Solomonids. Mansur was
immediately succeeded by the youngest
brother of the family Jamal ad-Din II.
Sultan Jamal reorganized the army into a
formidable force and defeated the
Solomonic armies at Bale, Yedeya and
Jazja. Emperor Yeshaq I responded by
gathering a large army and invaded the
cities of Yedeya and Jazja but was
repulsed by the soldiers of Jamal.
Following this success, Jamal organized
another successful attack against the
Solomonic forces and inflicted heavy
casualties in what was reportedly the
largest Adalite army ever fielded. As a
result, Yeshaq was forced to withdraw
towards the Blue Nile over the next five
months, while Jamal ad Din's forces
pursued them and looted much gold on
the way, although no engagement
ensued.
After returning home, Jamal sent his
brother Ahmad with the Christian battle-
expert Harb Jaush to successfully attack
the province of Dawaro. Despite his
losses, Emperor Yeshaq was still able to
continue field armies against Jamal.
Sultan Jamal continued to advance
further into the Abyssinian heartland.
However, Jamal on hearing of Yeshaq's
plan to send several large armies to
attack three different areas of Adal
(including the capital), returned to Adal,
where he fought the Solomonic forces at
Harjai and, according to al-Maqrizi, this is
where the Emperor Yeshaq died in battle.
The young Sultan Jamal ad-Din II at the
end of his reign had outperformed his
brothers and forefathers in the war arena
and became the most successful ruler of
Adal to date. Within a few years, however,
Jamal was assassinated by either
disloyal friends or cousins around 1432
or 1433, and was succeeded by his
brother Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. Sultan
Badlay continued the campaigns of his
younger brother and began several
successful expeditions against the
Christian empire. He recovered the
Kingdom of Bali and began preparations
of a major Adalite offensive into the
Ethiopian Highlands. He successfully
collected funding from surrounding
Muslim kingdoms as far away as the
Kingdom of Mogadishu.[45] However,
these ambitious plans were thrown out
the war chamber when King Badlay died
during the invasion of Dawaro. He was
succeeded by his son Muhammad ibn
Badlay, who sent envoys to the Sultan of
Mamluk Egypt to gather support and
arms in the continuing war against the
Christian empire. The Adalite ruler
Muhammad and the Solomonic ruler
Baeda Maryam agreed to a truce and
both states in the following decades saw
an unprecedented period of peace and
stability.

Early modern
Sultan Muhammad was succeeded by
his son Shams ad Din, while Emperor
Baeda Maryam was succeeded by his
son Eskender. During this time, period
warfare broke out again between the two
states and Emperor Eskender invaded
Dakkar, where he was stopped by a large
Adalite army, which destroyed the
Solomonic army to such an extent that
no further expeditions were carried out
for the remainder of Eskender's reign.
Adal, however, continued to raid the
Christian empire unabated under General
Mahfuz, the leader of the Adalite war
machine, who annually invaded the
Christian territories. Eskender was
succeeded by Emperor Na'od, who tried
to defend the Christians from General
Mahfuz but he too was also killed in
battle by the Adalite army in Ifat.

Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi's pioneering use of

cannons supplied by the Ottomans figured
prominently in his Conquest of Ethiopian
territories.[46]

At the turn of the 16th century, Adal

regrouped and, around 1527, under the
charismatic leadership of Imam Ahmad
ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gurey in Somali,
Gragn in Amharic, both meaning "left-
handed"), invaded Abyssinia. Adalite
armies, with Ottoman arms and support,
marched into Ethiopia and caused
considerable damage on the highland
state. Many historic churches,
manuscripts and settlements were
looted and burned during the
campaigns.[47] Adal's use of firearms, still
only rarely used in Ethiopia, allowed the
conquest of well over half of Ethiopia,
reaching as far north as Tigray. The
complete conquest of Ethiopia was
averted by the timely arrival of a
Portuguese expedition led by Cristóvão
da Gama, son of the famed navigator
Vasco da Gama.[48] The Portuguese had
been in the area earlier – in the early 16th
century, in search of the legendary priest-
king Prester John) – and, although a
diplomatic mission from Portugal, led by
Rodrigo de Lima, had failed to improve
relations between the countries, they
responded to the Ethiopian pleas for help
and sent a military expedition to their
fellow Christians. A Portuguese fleet
under the command of Estêvão da Gama
was sent from Portuguese India and
arrived at Massawa in February 1541.
Here, he received an ambassador from
the Emperor beseeching him to send
help against the Muslims. In July, a force
of 400 musketeers, under the command
of Cristóvão da Gama, younger brother of
Estêvão, marched into the interior. Joined
by Ethiopian troops, they were at first
successful against the Muslims; but, they
were subsequently defeated at the Battle
of Wofla (28 August 1542), and their
commander captured and executed. On
21 February 1543, however, a joint
Portuguese-Ethiopian force defeated the
Muslim army at the Battle of Wayna
Daga, in which Ahmed Gurey was killed
and the war won. Ahmed Gurey's widow
married his nephew Nur ibn Mujahid, in
return for his promise to avenge Ahmed's
death, who succeeded Ahmed Gurey, and
continued hostilities against his northern
adversaries until he killed the Ethiopian
Emperor in his second invasion of
Ethiopia.
Barawa city was an important medieval centre of
Somali enterprise.

During the age of the Ajurans, the

sultanates and republics of Merca,
Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo and their
respective ports flourished and had a
lucrative foreign commerce with ships
sailing to and coming from Arabia, India,
Venetia,[49] Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as
far away as China. Vasco da Gama, who
passed by Mogadishu in the 15th
century, noted that it was a large city with
houses of four or five storeys and big
palaces in its centre and many mosques
with cylindrical minarets.[50] In the 16th
century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many
ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in
India sailed to Mogadishu with cloths
and spices, for which they in return
received gold, wax and ivory. Barbosa
also highlighted the abundance of meat,
wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on the
coastal markets, which generated
enormous wealth for the merchants.[51]

Model of a medieval Mogadishan ship.

Mogadishu, the center of a thriving
weaving industry known as toob benadir
(specialized for the markets in Egypt and
Syria),[52] together with Merca and
Barawa also served as transit stops for
Swahili merchants from Mombasa and
Malindi and for the gold trade from
Kilwa.[53] Jewish merchants from the
Hormuz brought their Indian textile and
fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for
grain and wood.[54] Trading relations
were established with Malacca in the
15th century[55] with cloth, ambergris and
porcelain being the main commodities of
the trade.[56] Giraffes, zebras and incense
were exported to the Ming dynasty of
China, which established Somali
merchants as leaders in the commerce
between the Asia and Africa.[57] In the
process, the Somali language influenced
the Chinese language. Hindu merchants
from Surat and Southeast African
merchants from Pate, seeking to bypass
both the Portuguese blockade and
Omani meddling, used the Somali ports
of Merca and Barawa (which were out of
the two powers' jurisdiction) to conduct
their trade in safety and without
interference.[58]
In 1698, the Portuguese in Mombasa surrendered to
a joint Somali-Ottoman force.[59]

The 16th century Somali-Portuguese

wars in East Africa meant that
geopolitical tensions would remain high
and the increased contact between
Somali sailors and Ottoman corsairs
worried the Portuguese who actually sent
multiple punitive expeditions against the
Ajuran Empire so that Portuguese could
colonize the wealthy Somali port cities .
Example, Barawa under Tristão da Cunha
was sacked in the Battle of Barawa and
the attack on Mogadishu by João de
Sepúvelda was repelled, In the Battle of
Benadir.[60] Ottoman-Somali cooperation
against the Portuguese in the Indian
Ocean reached a high point in the 1580s
when Ajuran clients of the Somali coastal
cities began to sympathize with the
Arabs and Swahilis under Portuguese
rule and sent an envoy to the Turkish
corsair Mir Ali Bey for a joint expedition
against the Portuguese. He agreed and
was joined by a Somali fleet, which
began attacking Portuguese colonies in
Southeast Africa.[61] The Somali-Ottoman
offensive managed to drive out the
Portuguese from several important cities
such as Pate, Mombasa and Kilwa.
However, the Portuguese governor sent
envoys to India requesting a large
Portuguese fleet. This request was
answered and it reversed the previous
offensive of the Muslims into one of
defense. The Portuguese armada
managed to re-take most of the lost
cities and began punishing their leaders,
but they refrained from attacking
Mogadishu.[62]

Berbera was the most important port in

the Horn of Africa between the 18th–
19th centuries.[63] For centuries, Berbera
had extensive trade relations with several
historic ports in the Arabian Peninsula.
Additionally, the Somali and Ethiopian
interiors were very dependent on Berbera
for trade, where most of the goods for
export arrived from. During the 1833
trading season, the port town swelled to
over 70,000 people, and upwards of
6,000 camels laden with goods arrived
from the interior within a single day.
Berbera was the main marketplace in the
entire Somali seaboard for various goods
procured from the interior, such as
livestock, coffee, frankincense, myrrh,
acacia gum, saffron, feathers, ghee, hide
(skin), gold and ivory.[64]

According to a trade journal published in

1856, Berbera was described as "the
freest port in the world, and the most
important trading place on the whole
Arabian Gulf".:

"The only seaports of

importance on this coast are
Feyla [Zeila] and Berbera; the
former is an Arabian colony,
dependent of Mocha, but
Berbera is independent of any
foreign power. It is, without
having the name, the freest
port in the world, and the most
important trading place on the
whole Arabian Gulf. From the
beginning of November to the
end of April, a large fair
 assembles in Berbera, and
caravans of 6,000 camels at a
time come from the interior
loaded with coffee, (considered
superior to Mocha in Bombay),
gum, ivory, hides, skins, grain,
cattle, and sour milk, the
substitute of fermented drinks
in these regions; also much
cattle is brought there for the
Aden market."[65]

Historically, the port of Berbera was

controlled indigenously between the
mercantile Reer Ahmed Nuh and Reer
Yunis Nuh sub-clans of the Habar
Awal.[66]

19th century

19th century Martello fort in Berbera constructed by

Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh

In 1841, Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh, a

successful and ambitious Somali
merchant, successfully invaded Zeila
utilizing canons and Somali Musketeers,
he deposed and imprisoned the port
town's Arab ruler and succeeded him as
the undisputed ruler of Zeila and its
dependencies. Sharmarke's governorship
had an instant effect on the city, as he
maneuvered to monopolize as much of
the regional trade as possible, with his
sights set as far as Harar and the
Ogaden. In 1845, Sharmarke deployed a
few matchlock men to wrest control of
neighboring Berbera from that town's
then feuding Somali authorities.[67][68][69]
Sharmarke's influence was not limited to
the coast as he had many allies in the
interior of the Somali country and even
further in Abyssinia. Among his allies
were the Sultans of Shewa. When there
was tension between the Amir of Harar
Abu Bakr II ibn `Abd al-Munan and
Sharmarke, as a result of the Amir
arresting one of his agents in Harar,
Sharmarke persuaded the son of Sahle
Selassie, ruler of Shewa, to imprison on
his behalf about 300 citizens of Harar
then resident in Shewa, for a length of
two years.[70]

Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, the third

Sultan of the House of Gobroon, started
the Golden age of the Gobroon dynasty.
His army came out victorious during the
Bardheere jihad, which restored stability
in the region and revitalized the East
African ivory trade. He also received
presents and had cordial relations with
the rulers of neighbouring and distant
kingdoms such as the Omani, Wituland
and Yemeni sultans. Sultan Ibrahim's son
Ahmed Yusuf succeeded him and was
one of the most important figures in 19th
century East Africa. Ahmed Yusuf was
considered to be the most powerful king
in East Africa in his time. He managed to
gather 20 thousand Somali troops and
invaded the Zanzibar island near
Tanzania and he captured the islands,
defeated the enemy troops and freed the
Bantu slaves and through his military
dominance, Sultan Yusuf managed to
exact tribute from the Omani king in the
coastal town of Lamu.[71] In northern and
southern Somalia, the Gerad Dynasty
conducted trade with Yemen and Persia
and competed with the merchants of the
Bari Dynasty. The Gerads and the Bari
Sultans built impressive palaces, castles
and fortresses and had close relations
with many different empires in the Near
East.

Dervish commander Haji Sudi on the left with his

brother in-law Duale Idres. Aden, 1892.
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, leader of the Dervish
movement.

In the late 19th century, after the Berlin

Conference, European powers began the
Scramble for Africa, which inspired the
Dervish leaders in the north like
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and Sultan
Nur Ahmed Aman to rally support from
across the Horn of Africa, but also Sheikh
Abikar Gafle to start a resistance around
Merca called the Banadir Resistance.
Both the Banadir Resistance and Dervish
Movement sparked the beginning one of
the longest anti-colonial struggles on the
continent.

Banadir Resistance

In the 1890s Italy occupied Marka. This

sparked the beginning and outrage
among the Bimal clan, many of them
joined the Bimal resistance against Italy.
An Italian resident of the city was
assassinated in 1904, his name was
Giacomo Trevis. In response Italy
occupied the port town of Jazira about
30 miles south of Mogadishu.[72] In
response Bimal leaders called for a
grand conference mobilizing the Banadiri
clans, thus it came to eventually be
known as the Banadir Resistance. The
resistance was spearheaded by Sheikh
Abdi Gafle and Ma’alin Mursal Abdi
Yusuf; two prominent local Islamic
teachers in Marka from the Bimal clan.
The resistance, albeit clan-based initially
transformed into one with a religious
fervour, mainly Bimal, (but also later on
some of the Wa’dan, Hintire and other
clans of the Geledi confederation
joined).[73][74]

Dervish Movement
News of the incident that sparked the
Dervish rebellion and the 21 years
disturbance according to the consul-
general James Hayes Sadler was spread
by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis. The
incident in question was that of a group
of Somali children that were converted to
Christianity and adopted by the French
Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899.
Whether Sultan Nur experienced the
incident first hand or whether he was told
of it is not clear but what is known is that
he propagated the incident in the Tariqa
at Kob Fardod in June 1899, precipitating
the religious rebellion that later morphed
into the Somali Dervish.[75] In one of his
letters to Sultan Deria in 1899, Hassan
said that the British "have destroyed our
religion and made our children their
children" alluding to Sultan Nur's incident
with the Roman French Mission at
Berbera. The Dervish soon emerged as
an opposition of the Christian activities,
defending their version of Islam against
the Christian mission.[76] In several of his
poems and speeches, Hassan insisted
that the British and the Christian
Ethiopians in league with the British were
bent upon plundering the political and
religious freedom of the Somali nation.
He soon emerged as "a champion of his
country's political and religious freedom,
defending it against all Christian
invaders." Hassan issued a religious
ordinance that any Somali national who
did not accept the goal of unity of
Somalia and would not fight under his
leadership would be considered as kafir
or gaal. He soon acquired weapons from
the Ottoman Empire, Sudan, and other
sympathetic Muslim countries, and
appointed ministers and advisers to
administer different areas or sectors of
Somalia. In addition, Hassan gave a
clarion call for Somali unity and
independence, in the process organizing
his follower-warriors. His Dervish
movement had an essentially military
character, and the Dervish movement
was fashioned on the model of a Salihiya
brotherhood. It was characterized by a
rigid hierarchy and centralization. Hassan
threatened to drive the Christians into the
sea; he committed the first attack by
launching his first major military
offensive with his 1,500 Dervish
equipped with 20 modern rifles on the
British soldiers stationed in the region.

He repulsed the British in four

expeditions and had favorable diplomatic
relations with the Central Powers of the
Ottoman and German Empires.

20th century
In 1920, the Dervish movement collapsed
after intensive British aerial
bombardments, and Dervish territories
were subsequently turned into a
protectorate. The dawn of fascism in the
early 1920s heralded a change of
strategy for Italy, as the north-eastern
sultanates were soon to be forced within
the boundaries of La Grande Somalia
according to the plan of Fascist Italy.
With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria
De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, things
began to change for that part of
Somaliland. Italy had access to these
areas under the successive protection
treaties, but not direct rule. The Fascist
government had direct rule only over the
Benadir territory Given the defeat of the
Dervish movement in the early 1920s and
the rise of fascism in Europe, on 10 July
1925, Mussolini gave the green light to
De Vecchi to start the takeover of the
north-eastern sultanates. Everything was
to be changed and the treaties
abrogated.

Taleh was the capital of the Dervish movement.

Governor De Vecchi's first plan was to

disarm the sultanates. But, before the
plan could be carried out, there had to be
sufficient Italian troops in both
sultanates. To make the enforcement of
his plan more viable, he began to
reconstitute the old Somali police corps,
the Corpo Zaptié, as a colonial force.

In preparation for the invasion plan of the

sultanates, the Alula Commissioner, E.
Coronaro received orders in April 1924 to
carry out a reconnaissance on the
territories targeted for invasion. In spite
of the 40-year Italian relationship with the
sultanates, Italy did not have adequate
knowledge of the geography. During this
time, the Stefanini-Puccioni geological
survey was scheduled to take place, so it
was a good opportunity for the
expedition of Coronaro to join with this.
Coronaro's survey concluded that the
Ismaan Sultanate (Majeerteen) depended
on sea traffic, therefore, if this were
blocked, any resistance that could be
mounted after the invasion of the
sultanate would be minimal. As the first
stage of the invasion plan, Governor De
Vecchi ordered the two Sultanates to
disarm. The reaction of both sultanates
was to object, as they felt the policy was
in breach of the protectorate
agreements. The pressure engendered by
the new development forced the two rival
sultanates to settle their differences over
possession of Nugaal, and form a united
front against their common enemy.
The Sultanate of Hobyo was different
from that of the Majeerteen in terms of
its geography and the pattern of the
territory. It was founded by Yusuf Ali
Kenadid in the middle of the 19th century
in central Somalia. Its jurisdiction
stretched from Ceeldheer (El Dher)
through to Dhusamareb in the south-
west, from Galladi to Galkayo in the west,
from Jariban to Garaad in the north-east,
and the Indian Ocean in the east.

By 1 October, De Vecchi's plan was to go

into action. The operation to invade
Hobyo started in October 1925 . Columns
of the new Zaptié began to move
towards the sultanate. Hobyo, Ceelbuur
(El Buur), Galkayo, and the territory
between were completely overrun within
a month. Hobyo was transformed from a
sultanate into an administrative region.
Sultan Yusuf Ali surrendered.
Nevertheless, soon suspicions were
aroused as Trivulzio, the Hobyo
commissioner, reported movement of
armed men towards the borders of the
sultanate before the takeover and after.
Before the Italians could concentrate on
the Majeerteen, they were diverted by
new setbacks. On 9 November, the Italian
fear was realized when a mutiny, led by
one of the military chiefs of Sultan Ali
Yusuf, Omar Samatar, recaptured El Buur.
Soon the rebellion expanded to the local
population. The region went into revolt as
El-Dheere also came under the control of
Omar Samatar. The Italian forces tried to
recapture El Buur, but they were repulsed.
On 15 November, the Italians retreated to
Bud Bud and on the way they were
ambushed and suffered heavy
casualties.

While a third attempt was in the last

stages of preparation, the operation's
commander, Lieutenant-Colonel
Splendorelli, was ambushed between
Bud Bud and Buula Barde. He and some
of his staff were killed. As a
consequence of the death of the
commander of the operations and the
effect of two failed operations intended
to overcome the El Buur mutiny, the spirit
of Italian troops began to wane. The
Governor took the situation seriously
and, to prevent any more failure, he
requested two battalions from Eritrea to
reinforce his troops, and assumed lead
of the operations. Meanwhile, the
rebellion was gaining sympathy across
the country, and as far afield as Western
Somalia.

The fascist government was surprised by

the setback in Hobyo. The whole policy
of conquest was collapsing under its
nose. The El-Buur episode drastically
changed the strategy of Italy as it revived
memories of the Adwa fiasco when Italy
had been defeated by Abyssinia.
Furthermore, in the Colonial Ministry in
Rome, senior officials distrusted the
Governor's ability to deal with the matter.
Rome instructed De Vecchi that he was
to receive the reinforcement from Eritrea,
but that the commander of the two
battalions was to temporarily assume the
military command of the operations and
De Vecchi was to stay in Mogadishu and
confine himself to other colonial matters.
In the case of any military development,
the military commander was to report
directly to the Chief of Staff in Rome.
While the situation remained perplexing,
De Vecchi moved the deposed sultan to
Mogadishu. Fascist Italy was poised to
re-conquer the sultanate by whatever
means. To maneuver the situation within
Hobyo, they even contemplated the idea
of reinstating Ali Yusuf. However, the
idea was dropped after they became
pessimistic about the results.

To undermine the resistance, however,

and before the Eritrean reinforcement
could arrive, De Vecchi began to instill
distrust among the local people by
buying the loyalty of some of them. In
fact, these tactics had better results than
the military campaign had, and the
resistance began gradually to wear
down. Given the anarchy that would
follow, the new policy was a success.

On the military front, Italian troops finally

overran El Buur on 26 December 1925,
and the forces of Omar Samatar were
compelled to retreat to Western
Somaliland.

By neutralising Hobyo, the fascists could

concentrate on the Majeerteen. In early
October 1924, E. Coronaro, the new Alula
commissioner, presented Boqor (king)
Osman Mahamuud with an ultimatum to
disarm and surrender. Meanwhile, Italian
troops began to pour into the sultanate in
anticipation of this operation. While
landing at Haafuun and Alula, the
sultanate's troops opened fire on them.
Fierce fighting ensued and to avoid
escalating the conflict and to press the
fascist government to revoke their policy,
Boqor Osman tried to open a dialogue.
However, he failed, and again fighting
broke out between the two parties.
Following this disturbance, on 7 October,
the Governor instructed Coronaro to
order the Sultan to surrender; to
intimidate the people he ordered the
seizure of all merchant boats in the Alula
area. At Hafun, Arimondi bombarded and
destroyed all the boats in the area.
Downtown Mogadishu in 1936. Arch of Triumph
Umberto to the left, Cathedral and Arba Rucun
mosque to the centre-right.

On 13 October, Coronaro was to meet

Boqor Osman at Baargaal to press for his
surrender. Under siege already, Boqor
Osman was playing for time. However, on
23 October, Boqor Osman sent an angry
response to the Governor defying his
order. Following this a full-scale attack
was ordered in November. Baargaal was
bombarded and destroyed to the ground.
This region was ethnically compact, and
was out of range of direct action by the
fascist government of Muqdisho. The
attempt of the colonizers to suppress the
region erupted into explosive
confrontation. The Italians were meeting
fierce resistance on many fronts. In
December 1925, led by the charismatic
leader Hersi Boqor, son of Boqor Osman,
the sultanate forces drove the Italians
out of Hurdia and Hafun, two strategic
coastal towns. Another contingent
attacked and destroyed an Italian
communications centre at Cape
Guardafui, at the tip of the Horn. In
retaliation the Bernica and other
warships were called on to bombard all
main coastal towns of the Majeerteen.
After a violent confrontation Italian
forces captured Eyl (Eil), which until then
had remained in the hands of Hersi
Boqor. In response to the unyielding
situation, Italy called for reinforcements
from their other colonies, notably Eritrea.
With their arrival at the closing of 1926,
the Italians began to move into the
interior where they had not been able to
venture since their first seizure of the
coastal towns. Their attempt to capture
Dharoor Valley was resisted, and ended
in failure.

De Vecchi had to reassess his plans as

he was being humiliated on many fronts.
After one year of exerting full force he
could not yet manage to gain a result
over the sultanate. In spite of the fact
that the Italian navy sealed the
sultanate's main coastal entrance, they
could not succeed in stopping them from
receiving arms and ammunition through
it. It was only early 1927 when they finally
succeeded in shutting the northern coast
of the sultanate, thus cutting arms and
ammunition supplies for the Majeerteen.
By this time, the balance had tilted to the
Italians' side, and in January 1927 they
began to attack with a massive force,
capturing Iskushuban, at the heart of the
Majeerteen. Hersi Boqor unsuccessfully
attacked and challenged the Italians at
Iskushuban. To demoralise the
resistance, ships were ordered to target
and bombard the sultanate's coastal
towns and villages. In the interior, the
Italian troops confiscated livestock. By
the end of the 1927, the Italians had
taken full control of the sultanate. Hersi
Boqor and his troops retreated to
Ethiopia in order to rebuild their forces,
but were unable to retake their territories,
effectively ending the Campaign of the
Sultanates.

"Somalia italiana" and

World War II
Map of Italian Somaliland.

On 9 May 1936, Mussolini proclaimed the

creation of the Italian Empire, calling it
the Africa Orientale Italiana (A.O.I.) and
formed by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian
Somaliland (called officially "Somalia
italiana"). The Italians made many new
investments in infrastructure in the
region, such as the Strada Imperiale
("imperial road") between Addis Ababa
and Mogadishu and the railway
Mogadishu-Villabruzzi of 114 km.

Over the course of Italian Somaliland's

existence, many Somali troops fought in
the so-called Regio Corpo Truppe
Coloniali. The soldiers were enrolled as
Dubats, Zaptié and Bande irregolari.
During World War II, these troops were
regarded as a wing of the Italian Army's
Infantry Division, as was the case in
Libya and Eritrea. The Zaptié provided a
ceremonial escort for the Italian Viceroy
(Governor) as well as the territorial
police. There were already more than one
thousand such soldiers in 1922. In 1941,
in Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia, 2,186
Zaptié plus an additional 500 recruits
under training officially constituted a part
of the Carabinieri. They were organised
into a battalion commanded by Major
Alfredo Serranti that defended
Culqualber (Ethiopia) for three months
until this military unit was destroyed by
the Allies. After heavy fighting, the
Somali troops and the Italian Carabinieri
received full military honors from the
British.[77]

In the first half of 1940, there were

22,000 Italians living in Somalia and the
colony was one of the most developed in
East Africa in terms of the standard of
living of the colonists and of the Somalis,
mainly in the urban areas. More than
10,000 Italians were living in Mogadishu,
the administrative capital of the Africa
Orientale Italiana, and new buildings were
erected in the Italian architectural
tradition.[78] By 1940, the Villaggio Duca
degli Abruzzi (now Jowhar) had a
population of 12,000 people, of whom
nearly 3,000 were Italian Somalis, and
enjoyed a notable level of development
with a small manufacturing area with
agricultural industries (sugar mills,
etc.).[79]

In the second half of 1940, Italian troops

invaded British Somaliland[80] and
ejected the British. The Italians also
occupied parts of the British East Africa
Protectorate bordering Jubaland around
the towns of Moyale and Buna.[81]

Mussolini boasted in front of a group of

Somalis leaders -in late summer 1940-
that he had created the "Greater Somalia"
(dreamed by the Somali population) after
the union of British Somaliland to his
Somalia Governorate.[82]
Italian Somalia

Mogadiscio cathedral
Cinema Italia in Mogadiscio, 1937

Fiat building in Mogadiscio, 1940

 Italian stamp from Mogadiscio

Governor's palace in Mogadiscio

Independence
Flag of the Somali Youth League (SYL), the nation's

first political party.

During World War II, Britain regained

control of British Somaliland and
conquered Italian Somaliland,
administering both militarily as
protectorates. In November 1945, during
the Potsdam Conference, the United
Nations granted Italy trusteeship of
Italian Somaliland, but only under close
supervision and on the condition—first
proposed by the Somali Youth League
(SYL) and other nascent Somali political
organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle
Somali (HDMS) and the Somali National
League (SNL)—that Somalia achieve
independence within ten years.[83][84]
British Somaliland remained a
protectorate of Britain until 1960.[85]

To the extent that Italy held the territory

by UN mandate, the trusteeship
provisions gave the Somalis the
opportunity to gain experience in political
education and self-government. These
were advantages that British Somaliland,
which was to be incorporated into the
new Somali state, did not have. Although,
in the 1950s, British colonial officials
attempted, through various
administrative development efforts, to
make up for past neglect, the
protectorate stagnated. The disparity
between the two territories in economic
development and political experience
would cause serious difficulties when it
came time to integrate the two parts.[86]
Britain included the proviso that the
Somali nomads would retain their
autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately
claimed sovereignty over them.[83] This
prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain
in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it
had turned over.[83] Britain also granted
administration of the almost exclusively
Somali-inhabited[87] Northern Frontier
District (NFD) to Kenyan nationalists
despite an informal plebiscite
demonstrating the overwhelming desire
of the region's population to join the
newly formed Somali Republic.[88]

An avenue in downtown Mogadishu in 1963.

A referendum was held in neighboring

Djibouti (then known as French
Somaliland) in 1958, on the eve of
Somalia's independence in 1960, to
decide whether or not to join the Somali
Republic or to remain with France. The
referendum turned out in favour of a
continued association with France,
largely due to a combined yes vote by the
sizable Afar ethnic group and resident
Europeans.[89] There was also allegations
of widespread vote rigging, with the
French expelling thousands of Somalis
before the referendum reached the
polls.[90] The majority of those who voted
"no" were Somalis who were strongly in
favour of joining a united Somalia, as had
been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice
President of the Government Council.
Harbi was killed in a plane crash two
years later.[89] Djibouti finally gained its
independence from France in 1977, and
Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a Somali who
had campaigned for a yes vote in the
referendum of 1958, eventually wound up
as Djibouti's first president (1977–
1991).[89]

On 1 July 1960, the two territories united

to form the Somali Republic, albeit within
boundaries drawn up by Italy and
Britain.[91][92] A government was formed
by Abdullahi Issa Mohamud and
Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and other
members of the trusteeship and
protectorate governments, with the
Speaker of the Somali Union Act Haji
Bashir Ismail Yusuf as President of the
Somali National Assembly, Aden
Abdullah Osman Daar as President of
Somali Republic, and Abdirashid Ali
Shermarke as Prime Minister (later to
become president from 1967 to 1969).
On 20 July 1961 and through a popular
referendum, the people of Somalia
ratified a new constitution, which was
first drafted in 1960.[93] In 1967,
Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became
Prime Minister, a position to which he
was appointed by Shermarke. Egal would
later become the President of the
autonomous Somaliland region in
northwestern Somalia.
On 15 October 1969, while paying a visit
to the northern town of Las Anod,
Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali
Shermarke was shot dead by a
policeman. His assassination was
quickly followed by a military coup d'état
on 21 October 1969 (the day after his
funeral), in which the Somali Army seized
power without encountering armed
opposition – essentially a bloodless
takeover. The putsch was spearheaded
by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre,
who at the time commanded the army.[94]

Somali Democratic Republic

Supreme Revolutionary Council

Alongside Barre, the Supreme
Revolutionary Council (SRC) that
assumed power after President
Sharmarke's assassination was led by
Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre
Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel.
Kediye officially held the title of "Father
of the Revolution," and Barre shortly
afterwards became the head of the
SRC.[95] The SRC subsequently renamed
the country the Somali Democratic
Republic,[96][97] dissolved the parliament
and the Supreme Court, and suspended
the constitution.[98]

The revolutionary army established large-

scale public works programs and
successfully implemented an urban and
rural literacy campaign, which helped
dramatically increase the literacy rate. In
addition to a nationalization program of
industry and land, the new regime's
foreign policy placed an emphasis on
Somalia's traditional and religious links
with the Arab world, eventually joining the
Arab League (AL) in 1974.[99] That same
year, Barre also served as chairman of
the Organization of African Unity (OAU),
the predecessor of the African Union
(AU).[100]

In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself

and established in its place the Somali
Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a
one-party government based on scientific
socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP
was an attempt to reconcile the official
state ideology with the official state
religion by adapting Marxist precepts to
local circumstances. Emphasis was
placed on the Muslim principles of social
progress, equality and justice, which the
government argued formed the core of
scientific socialism and its own accent
on self-sufficiency, public participation
and popular control, as well as direct
ownership of the means of production.
While the SRSP encouraged private
investment on a limited scale, the
administration's overall direction was
essentially communist.[98]
Ogaden War

Poster showing the Ogaden as part of Greater

Somalia.

In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out

after Barre's government sought to
incorporate the predominantly Somali-
inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia into
a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia. In the first
week of the conflict, Somali armed
forces seized the southern and central
parts of the Ogaden. The units in the
Godey Front were led by Colonel
Abdullahi Ahmed Irro.[101] For most of the
war, the Somali army scored continuous
victories on the Ethiopian army, following
it as far as Sidamo. By September 1977,
Somalia controlled 90% of the Ogaden
and captured strategic cities such as
Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire
Dawa, threatening the train route from
the latter city to Djibouti. After the siege
of Harar, a massive unprecedented
Soviet intervention consisting of 20,000
Cuban forces and several thousand
Soviet experts came to the aid of
Ethiopia's communist Derg regime. By
1978, the Somali troops were ultimately
pushed out of the Ogaden. This shift in
support by the Soviet Union motivated
the Barre government to seek allies
elsewhere. It eventually settled on the
Soviets' Cold War arch-rival, the United
States, which had been courting the
Somali government for some time. All in
all, Somalia's initial friendship with the
Soviet Union and later partnership with
the United States enabled it to build the
largest army in Africa.[102]

Isaaq genocide

Exhumed skeletal remains of victims of the Isaaq

genocide
Isaaq genocide [103][104] was the
systematic, state-sponsored massacre of
Isaaq civilians between 1987 and 1989
by the Somali Democratic Republic under
the dictatorship of Siad Barre.[105] The
number of civilian deaths in this
massacre is estimated to be between
50,000-100,000 according to various
sources,[106][107][108] whilst local reports
estimate the total civilian deaths to be
upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians.[109]
This genocide also included the levelling
and complete destruction of the second
and third largest cities in Somalia,
Hargeisa (which was 90 percent
destroyed)[110] and Burao (70 per cent
destroyed) respectively,[111] and had
caused up to 500,000[112][113] Somalis
(primarily of the Isaaq clan)[114] to flee
their land and cross the border to
Hartasheikh in Ethiopia as refugees, in
what was described as "one of the
fastest and largest forced movements of
people recorded in Africa",[115] and
resulted in the creation of the world's
largest refugee camp then (1988),[116]
with another 400,000 being
displaced.[117][118][119] The scale of
destruction led to Hargeisa being known
as the 'Dresden of Africa'.[120] The killings
happened during the Somali Civil War
and have been referred to as a "forgotten
genocide".
Rebellion

Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, Chairman of

the Supreme Revolutionary Council.

A new constitution was promulgated in

1979 under which elections for a
People's Assembly were held. However,
Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist
Party politburo continued to rule.[97] In
October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded,
and the Supreme Revolutionary Council
was re-established in its place.[98]

Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur Chairman of the

Somali National Movement that overthrew Barre's
regime in Northern Somalia

In May 1986, President Barre suffered

serious injuries in a life-threatening
automobile accident near Mogadishu,
when the car that was transporting him
smashed into the back of a bus during a
heavy rainstorm.[121] He was treated in a
hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries,
broken ribs and shock over a period of a
month.[122][123] Lieutenant General
Mohamed Ali Samatar, then Vice
President, subsequently served as de
facto head of state for the next several
months. Although Barre managed to
recover enough to present himself as the
sole presidential candidate for re-election
over a term of seven years on 23
December 1986, his poor health and
advanced age led to speculation about
who would succeed him in power.
Possible contenders included his son-in-
law General Ahmed Suleiman Abdille,
who was at the time the Minister of the
Interior, in addition to Barre's Vice
President Lt. Gen. Samatar.[121][122]

By that time, Barre's government had

become increasingly unpopular. Many
Somalis had become disillusioned with
life under military dictatorship. The
regime was weakened further in the
1980s as the Cold War drew to a close
and Somalia's strategic importance was
diminished. The government became
increasingly totalitarian, and resistance
movements, encouraged by Ethiopia,
sprang up across the country, eventually
leading to the Somali Civil War. Among
the militia groups were the Somali
Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF),
United Somali Congress (USC), Somali
National Movement (SNM) and the
Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM),
together with the non-violent political
oppositions of the Somali Democratic
Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic
Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto
Group (SMG).

Somali Civil War

US Army helicopter shortly before Battle of

Mogadishu in 1993.
With the political situation deteriorating,
Barre's long-standing government in
1991 eventually collapsed under the
pressure. The national army disbanded
shortly afterwards.

United Nations Security Council

Resolution 794 was unanimously passed
on 3 December 1992, which approved a
coalition of United Nations peacekeepers
led by the United States. Forming the
Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the force
was tasked with assuring security until
humanitarian efforts aimed at stabilizing
the situation were transferred to the UN.
Landing in 1993, the UN peacekeeping
coalition started the two-year United
Nations Operation in Somalia II
(UNOSOM II) primarily in the south to
provide humanitarian relief.

Some militias that had seized power

after the oust of Barre regime's
interpreted the UN troops' presence as a
threat to their hegemony. Consequently,
several gun battles took place in
Mogadishu between local gunmen and
peacekeepers. Among these was the
Battle of Mogadishu, an unsuccessful
attempt by US troops to apprehend
faction leader Mohamed Farah Aidid. The
UN soldiers eventually withdrew
altogether from the country on 3 March
1995, having incurred more significant
casualties.

Decentralization
Following the outbreak of the civil war
and the ensuing collapse of the central
government, Somalia's residents reverted
to local forms of conflict resolution,
either secular, traditional or Islamic law,
with a provision for appeal of all
sentences. The legal structure in Somalia
is thus divided along three lines: civil law,
religious law and customary law.[124]

Civil law
While Somalia's formal judicial system
was largely destroyed after the fall of the
Siad Barre regime, it was later gradually
rebuilt and administered under different
regional governments, such as the
autonomous Puntland and Somaliland
macro-regions. In the case of the later
Transitional Federal Government, a new
interim judicial structure was formed
through various international
conferences.

Despite some significant political

differences between them, all of these
administrations share similar legal
structures, much of which are predicated
on the judicial systems of previous
Somali administrations. These
similarities in civil law include: a) a
charter which affirms the primacy of
Muslim shari'a or religious law, although
in practice shari'a is applied mainly to
matters such as marriage, divorce,
inheritance, and civil issues. The charter
guarantees respect for universal
standards of human rights to all subjects
of the law. It also assures the
independence of the judiciary, which in
turn is protected by a judicial committee;
b) a three-tier judicial system including a
supreme court, a court of appeals, and
courts of first instance (either divided
between district and regional courts, or a
single court per region); and c) the laws
of the civilian government which were in
effect prior to the military coup d'état that
saw the Barre regime into power remain
in force until the laws are amended.[125]

Shari'a

Islamic shari'a has traditionally played a

significant part in Somali society. In
theory, it has served as the basis for all
national legislation in every Somali
constitution. In practice, however, it only
applied to common civil cases such as
marriage, divorce, inheritance and family
matters. This changed after the start of
the civil war, when a number of new
shari'a courts began to spring up in many
different cities and towns across the
country. These new shari'a courts serve
three functions; namely, to pass rulings in
both criminal and civil cases, to organize
a militia capable of arresting criminals,
and to keep convicted prisoners
incarcerated.[125]

The shari'a courts, though structured

along simple lines, feature a conventional
hierarchy of a chairman, vice-chairman
and four judges. A police force that
reports to the court enforces the judges'
rulings, but also helps settle community
disputes and apprehend suspected
criminals. In addition, the courts manage
detention centers where criminals are
kept. An independent finance committee
is also assigned the task of collecting
and managing tax revenue levied on
regional merchants by the local
authorities.[125]

Xeer

Somalis have for centuries practiced a

form of customary law, called Xeer
(pronounced /ħeːr/). Xeer is a polycentric
legal system where there is no
monopolistic institution or agent that
determines what the law should be or
how it should be interpreted.
The Xeer legal system is assumed to
have developed exclusively in the Horn of
Africa since approximately the 7th
century. There is no evidence that it
developed elsewhere or was greatly
influenced by any foreign legal system.
Its legal terminology is practically devoid
of loan words from foreign languages,
suggesting that it is truly indigenous.[126]

The Xeer legal system also requires a

certain amount of specialization of
different functions within the legal
framework. Thus, one can find odayaal
(judges), xeerbogeyaal (jurists), guurtiyaal
(detectives), garxajiyaal (attorneys),
markhaatiyal (witnesses) and waranle
(police officers) to enforce the law.[127]

Xeer is defined by a few fundamental

tenets that are immutable and which
closely approximate the principle of jus
cogens in international law: These
precepts include: a) payment of blood
money (locally referred to as diya) for
libel, theft, physical harm, rape and death,
as well as supplying assistance to
relatives; b) assuring good inter-clan
relations by treating women justly,
negotiating with "peace emissaries" in
good faith, and sparing the lives of
socially protected groups "Birr Magaydo,"
(e.g. children, women, the pious, poets,
messengers, sheikhs, and guests); c)
family obligations such as the payment
of dowry, and sanctions for eloping; d)
rules pertaining to the management of
resources such as the use of pasture
land, water, and other natural resources;
e) providing financial support to married
female relatives and newlyweds; f)
donating livestock and other assets to
the poor.[125]

Recent history
Embassy of Somalia in Paris, France.

Transitional National Government

In 2000, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was

selected as the President of the nation's
new Transitional National Government
(TNG), an interim administration formed
to guide Somalia to its third permanent
republican government.
On 10 October 2004, in a session held by
the Transitional Federal Parliament
(TFP), Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was
elected as President of the succeeding
Transitional Federal Government (TFG),
an interim federal administrative body
that he had helped establish earlier in the
year.[128] He received 189 votes from the
TFG Parliament, while the closest
contender, erstwhile Somali ambassador
to Washington Abdullahi Ahmed Addou,
got 79 votes in the third round of voting.
The then incumbent President of
Somalia, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan,
peacefully withdrew his
candidature.[129][130] Ahmed was sworn in
a few days later on 14 October 2004.[130]
Transitional Federal Institutions

The Transitional Federal Government

(TFG) was the internationally recognised
government of Somalia until 20 August
2012, when its tenure officially
ended.[131] It was established as one of
the Transitional Federal Institutions
(TFIs) of government as defined in the
Transitional Federal Charter (TFC)
adopted in November 2004 by the
Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP).

The Transitional Federal Government

officially comprised the executive branch
of government, with the TFP serving as
the legislative branch. The government
was headed by the President of Somalia,
to whom the cabinet reported through
the Prime Minister. However, it was also
used as a general term to refer to all
three branches collectively.

Islamic Courts Union and Ethiopian

intervention

In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU),

an Islamist organization, assumed
control of much of the southern part of
the country and promptly imposed
Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal
Government sought to reestablish its
authority, and, with the assistance of
Ethiopian troops, African Union
peacekeepers and air support by the
United States, managed to drive out the
rival ICU and solidify its rule.[132]

On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras

Kamboni raged, TFG President and
founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former
colonel in the Somali Army and
decorated war hero, entered Mogadishu
for the first time since being elected to
office. The government then relocated to
Villa Somalia in the capital from its
interim location in Baidoa. This marked
the first time since the fall of the Siad
Barre regime in 1991 that the federal
government controlled most of the
country.[133]
Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts
Union splintered into several different
factions. Some of the more radical
elements, including Al-Shabaab,
regrouped to continue their insurgency
against the TFG and oppose the
Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab
scored military victories, seizing control
of key towns and ports in both central
and southern Somalia. At the end of
2008, the group had captured Baidoa but
not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-
Shabaab and other militias had managed
to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat,
leaving behind an under-equipped African
Union peacekeeping force to assist the
Transitional Federal Government's
troops.[134]

Due to a lack of funding and human

resources, an arms embargo that made it
difficult to re-establish a national security
force, and general indifference on the
part of the international community,
President Yusuf found himself obliged to
deploy thousands of troops from
Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the
battle against insurgent elements in the
southern part of the country. Financial
support for this effort was provided by
the autonomous region's government.
This left little revenue for Puntland's own
security forces and civil service
employees, leaving the territory
vulnerable to piracy and terrorist
attacks.[135][136]

On 29 December 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf

Ahmed announced before a united
parliament in Baidoa his resignation as
President of Somalia. In his speech,
which was broadcast on national radio,
Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end
the country's seventeen-year conflict as
his government had mandated to do.[137]
He also blamed the international
community for its failure to support the
government, and said that the speaker of
parliament would succeed him in office
per the Charter of the Transitional
Federal Government.[138]

Coalition government

The battle flag of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group

waging war against the federal government.

Between 31 and 9 May June 2008,

representatives of Somalia's federal
government and the moderate Alliance
for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS)
group of Islamist rebels participated in
peace talks in Djibouti brokered by the
former United Nations Special Envoy to
Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. The
conference ended with a signed
agreement calling for the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops in exchange for the
cessation of armed confrontation.
Parliament was subsequently expanded
to 550 seats to accommodate ARS
members, which then elected Sheikh
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former ARS
chairman, to office. President Sharif
shortly afterwards appointed Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of the
assassinated former President
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as the nation's
new Prime Minister.[124]
With the help of a small team of African
Union troops, the coalition government
also began a counteroffensive in
February 2009 to assume full control of
the southern half of the country. To
solidify its rule, the TFG formed an
alliance with the Islamic Courts Union,
other members of the Alliance for the Re-
liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna
Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia.[139]
Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul
Islam, the two main Islamist groups in
opposition, began to fight amongst
themselves in mid-2009.[140]

As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's

coalition government announced that it
would re-implement Shari'a as the
nation's official judicial system.[141]
However, conflict continued in the
southern and central parts of the country.
Within months, the coalition government
had gone from holding about 70% of
south-central Somalia's conflict zones,
territory which it had inherited from the
previous Yusuf administration, to losing
control of over 80% of the disputed
territory to the Islamist insurgents.[133]

On 14 October 2010, diplomat Mohamed

Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) was
appointed the new Prime Minister of
Somalia. The former Premier Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned the
month before following a protracted
dispute with President Sharif over a
proposed draft constitution.[142]

Foreign Minister of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi

Omaar in a meeting with UNDP Administrator Helen
Clark and other diplomats at the UN headquarters in
New York.

Per the Transitional Federal

Government's (TFG) Charter,[143] Prime
Minister Mohamed named a new Cabinet
on 12 November 2010,[144] which has
been lauded by the international
community.[145][146] As had been
expected, the allotted ministerial
positions were significantly reduced in
numbers, with only 18 administrative
posts unveiled versus the previous
government's bloated 39
portfolios.[144][147] Only two Ministers
from the previous Cabinet were
reappointed: Hussein Abdi Halane, the
former Minister of Finance and a well-
regarded figure in the international
community, was put in charge of a
consolidated Ministry of Finance and
Treasury; and Dr. Mohamud Abdi Ibrahim
was reassigned to the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.[148] Ahlu Sunna
Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi group and an
important military ally of the TFG, was
also accorded the key Interior and Labour
ministries.[147][148] The remaining
ministerial positions were largely
assigned to technocrats new to the
Somali political arena.[149]

In its first 50 days in office, Prime

Minister Mohamed's new administration
completed its first monthly payment of
stipends to government soldiers, and
initiated the implementation of a full
biometric register for the security forces
within a window of four months.
Additional members of the Independent
Constitutional Commission were also
appointed to engage Somali
constitutional lawyers, religious scholars
and experts in Somali culture over the
nation's upcoming new constitution, a
key part of the government's Transitional
Federal Tasks. In addition, high level
federal delegations were dispatched to
defuse clan-related tensions in several
regions. According to the prime minister
of Somalia, to improve transparency,
Cabinet ministers fully disclosed their
assets and signed a code of ethics.[150]

An Anti-Corruption Commission with the

power to carry out formal investigations
and to review government decisions and
protocols was also established so as to
more closely monitor all activities by
public officials. Furthermore,
unnecessary trips abroad by members of
government were prohibited, and all
travel by ministers now require the
Premier's consent.[150][151] A budget
outlining 2011's federal expenditures was
also put before and approved by
members of parliament, with the
payment of civil service employees
prioritized. In addition, a full audit of
government property and vehicles is
being put into place. On the war front, the
new government and its AMISOM allies
also managed to secure control of 60%
of Mogadishu, where 80% of the capital's
population now lives. According to the
African Union and Prime Minister
Mohamed, with increasing troop strength
the pace of territorial gains is expected
to greatly accelerate.[150][152]

On 19 June 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi

Mohamed resigned from his position as
Prime Minister of Somalia. Part of the
controversial Kampala Accord's
conditions, the agreement would also
see the mandates of the President, the
Parliament Speaker and Deputies
extended until August 2012, after which
point new elections are to be
organized.[153] Abdiweli Mohamed Ali,
Mohamed's former Minister of Planning
and International Cooperation, was later
named permanent Prime Minister.[154]
Federal government

As part of the official "Roadmap for the

End of Transition", a political process
which provided clear benchmarks leading
toward the formation of permanent
democratic institutions in Somalia, the
Transitional Federal Government's
interim mandate ended on 20 August
2012.[155] The Federal Parliament of
Somalia was concurrently inaugurated,
ushering in the Federal Government of
Somalia, the first permanent central
government in the country since the start
of the civil war.[131]
On 10 September 2012, parliament
elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the
new President of Somalia.[156] President
Mohamud later appointed Abdi Farah
Shirdon as the new Prime Minister on 6
October 2012,[157] who was succeeded in
office by Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on 21
December 2013.[158] On 17 December
2014, former Premier Omar Abdirashid
Ali Sharmarke was reappointed Prime
Minister.[159]

On 8 February 2017, Somali MPs elected

Ex-Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi
"Farmajo" Mohamed in a surprise
result.[160] On 23 February 2017,
President Mohamed appointed former
humanitarian worker and businessman
Hassan Khaire as his Prime Minister..

Timelines

Ancient

c. 2350 BC: The Land of Punt

establishes trade with the Ancient
Egyptians.[161]
1st century AD: City states on the
Somali coast are active in
commerce trading with Greek, and
later Roman merchants.[161]

Muslim era

700–900: Somalis adopt Islam.[34]

9th century – 13th century: Adal
Kingdom.
10th century – 16th century:
Sultanate of Mogadishu.
1285–1415: The rise and fall of the
Sultanate of Ifat.
1200s – late 1600s: The rise and fall
of the Ajuran Sultanate.
1300–1400: Mogadishu, Zeila and
Barawe are visited by Ibn Battuta
and Zheng He.
1415–1559: The rise and fall of the
Adal Sultanate.
1528–1535: Jihad against Ethiopia
led by Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi
 (also called Ahmed Gurey and
Ahmed Gran; "the Left-handed").[162]
late 17th – late 19th century:
Berbera's domination in Gulf of Aden
trade, Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh,
governor of Zeila, Berbera and
Tadjourah, and Sultanate of the
Geledi.
mid-18th century – 1929:
Majeerteen Sultanate also known as
Migiurtinia/Majeerteenia.
1878–1927: Sultanate of Hobyo.

Modern era

20 July 1887 : British Somaliland

protectorate (in the north)
subordinated to Aden to 1905.
3 August 1889: Benadir Coast Italian
Protectorate (in the northeast),
(unoccupied until May 1893).
1896–1920: Dervish State (proto
state)
16 March 1905: Italian Somaliland
colony (in the northeast, central and
south).
July 1910: Italian Somaliland a
crown colony
1920: Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
(called "the Mad Mullah" by the
British) of the Dervish movement
dies and the longest and bloodiest
colonial resistance war in Africa
ends.
 15 January 1935: Italian Somaliland,
part of Italian East Africa along with
Italian Eritrea (and from 1936
Ethiopia).
1 June 1936: The Somalia
Governorate is established as one of
the six governorates of Italian East
Africa.

World War II

18 August 1940: Italian occupation

of British Somaliland.
February 1941: British
administration of Italian Somaliland.

Independence and Cold War

1 April 1950: Italian Somaliland
becomes a United Nations trust
territory administration, the Trust
Territory of Somalia, which is
promised independence within 10
years.
26 June 1960: British Somaliland is
granted independence as the State
of Somaliland, with the
understanding that it is to reunite
with Italian Somaliland.
1 July 1960: Reunification of British
Somaliland with Italian Somaliland
to form the Somali Republic.
1 July 1960: First president of
Somali National Assembly, Speaker
of the Somali Union Act. Haji Bashir
Ismail Yusuf.
1 July 1960 – 1967: Presidency of
Aden Abdullah Osman Daar
1967–1969: Presidency of
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke;
assassinated by one of the
policemen assigned to his
protection.
21 October 1969: Somali
Democratic Republic.
1969–1991: Siad Barre, leader of the
Supreme Revolutionary Council,
rises to power.
23 July 1977 – 15 March 1978:
Ogaden War.
 1982: 1982 Ethiopian–Somali
Border War.
1986: Fall of Barre government.[163]
1991: Somaliland declares
independence from Somalia.[164]

See also
Economic history of Somalia
History of Africa
List of colonial governors of British
Somaliland
List of colonial governors of Italian
Somaliland
President of Somalia
Prime Minister of Somalia
Xeer
 Federal Parliament of Somalia

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