Forty-one years after independence, Somalia should have been a country at peace with itself. But it is not. Still bleeding from the wounds inflicted by the civil war of 1991, it has effectively split into several ministates and fiefdoms. The northern region has seceded and declared itself as the sovereign republic of Somaliland.
Somalia was formed on July 1, 1960 by the union of the Italian-administrated UN Trust territory of Somalia in the south and the British Protectorate of Somaliland in the north. Independence, it was hoped, would mean for the Somali people a change for the better. Instead, it brought them violence, internecine killings, economic collapse and disintegration. If this is to change, answer must be found to the question: What is the basis of these crisis and what was its genesis?
The crisis dates back to Oct. 21, 1969, when Gen. Muhammad Siad Barre overthrew the civilian government and installed, in place of the parliamentary democracy, a military dictatorship. The new regime’s first war was against the rule of law. It violated all norms of civil society and set on a course of systematic violation and abuse of human rights, such as imprisonment without trial, torture and ban on all political activities.
The military regime’s fundamental policy was the time-tested “divide and rule”. It deliberately fostered hatred and conflicts among the country’s various clans and subclans which gradually fragmented the sociopolitical fabric of the society. Finally, when the iron hand of the dictator was no longer there to keep the forces of hate and ambition under check, there were open armed conflicts among the clans and subclans which, in turn, became the basis of the subsequent “clan approach” to the struggle against the regime, and paved the way for the crisis in Somalia.
The consequences of this disastrous situation were anarchy, famine and mass exodus of the population. The American and UN intervention in 1992-95, undertaken with the aim of feeding the starved people, brought no solution.
Taking advantage of the collapse of the military government, former British Somaliland in the north seceded in May 1991 and declared itself independent. Although no nation in the world has granted it recognition as a separate sovereign state, its people recently voted in a referendum on a new constitution, overwhelmingly endorsing their country’s breakaway declaration. Discontent had simmered among Somalilanders for years on the issue of union with the south. Even by the time the northerners had formalized their unconditional accession to Somalia, there was wide resentment that all key positions in the civilian government — such as the presidency, prime ministership, important Cabinet portfolios, and army and police commands— had gone to southerners. Then, after seven years, Muhammad H. Ibrahim Igal from the north — currently the Somaliland president — was elected prime minister.
If that situation had continued, it is possible that Somalia would have been spared all the bloodshed. Unfortunately for the country, the military overthrew the civilian administration led by Igal. Somalilanders believe that, during the civil war of the 1980s, the military regime pursued brutal policies such as aerial bombing of northern cities. They felt that they had suffered under southern rule and were not willing to continue like that.
The tragedy is that all these need not have happened in Somalia. It is different from the other troubled African societies in that it has a fundamentally homogeneous character. But there is too much mistrust in the clan-based Somali society. Without trust, there can’t be lasting peace. Time alone will tell whether the transitional government will succeed in heralding a new era of national integrity and reconciliation or simply prolong the nightmare of chaos and dismemberment.
