Somalia
Somalia was created in 1960 by the merging of two territories: a former British protectorate and an Italian colony. Since then, its development has been hindered by territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.
In 1970 President Siad Barre proclaimed a socialist state, paving the way for close relations with the USSR. In 1977, with the help of Soviet arms, Somalia attempted to seize the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, but was defeated as Ethiopia, which had turned Marxist, received Soviet and Cuban backing. In 1991 opposing clans ousted Barre, but they failed to agree on a replacement. The country slid into lawlessness and clan warfare. Beginning in 1993, a two-year UN humanitarian effort (primarily in the south) was able to alleviate famine conditions, but when the UN withdrew in 1995, having suffered significant casualties, order still had not been restored.
In 2000 clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president at a conference in Djibouti. A transitional government was set up, with the aim of reconciling warring militias, but made little progress. In 2004, the main warlords and politicians agreed to set up a new parliament, which later appointed a president. This was the 14th attempt to establish a government since 1991. It has no civil service or government buildings. In 2006, Islamist militias known as the UIC (the Union of Islamic Courts) steadily took over much of the south, including the capital, after their militias kicked out warlords who had ruled the roost for 15 years.
After the collapse of the Barre regime in 1991, the northwest part of Somalia unilaterally declared itself the independent Republic of Somaliland. Although it is not recognized by international bodies, it has enjoyed relative stability.
Similarly, the neighboring Puntland region in northeastern Somalia has declared itself autonomous. Its administration has been accused of poor transparency and embezzling public funds, and political conflicts in Puntland regularly resulted in clashes. Puntland has a long-running territorial dispute with Somaliland.
Vicious inter-clan fighting which in turn has wrought massive destruction upon the country's infrastructure and morale. Food reserves were depleted, and the drought has led to widespread starvation.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) began assisting Somalia in 1980, but this relationship faltered in 1987 after Somalis balked at the currency devaluation caused by IMF proposed currency auctions. The project of constructing the Badhera Dam on the Juba River would greatly improve agricultural regularity in drought years, not to mention the assistance it would provide to the energy and water sectors. This project has made no progress since 1986.
Trade deficits, an unpredictable climate, high inflation, and lack of a stable currency in the anarchic political environment all contribute destabilizing effects on the struggling economy of Somalia.
The country is awash in weapons. Interclan and interfactional fighting can flare up with little or no warning, and kidnapping, murder, and other threats to foreigners occur in many regions. The transitional national government has little authority as yet, and cannot offer general security or police protection for travelers.
In late March 2004, the United Nations began evacuating non-essential international staff from the breakaway republic of Somaliland following a roadside ambush of aid workers from Germany, Kenya and Somalia. A Kenyan aid worker was killed. Police officers arrested five Somali men who were attempting to cross from Somaliland into Ethiopia; a gunfight ensued. Although the men were first arrested in connection with this incident, they were then further detained on suspicion of carrying out the fatal shooting of two British teachers in northwestern Somalia's self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland last October. The teachers were shot through the window of their apartment in a school compound.
These attacks were likely the work of members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group, the Islamic Union/Islamic Unity Party, al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI). The AIAI supports the creation of an Islamic state that would incorporate not only Somalia, but also ethnic Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia (and presumably Djibouti and Kenya).
The AIAI has carried out terrorist and guerilla attacks in both Ethiopia and Kenya, using Somalia as a base. It has expanded its financial network over the past several years, enabling it to finance further terrorist and insurgent operations. Some remittance and telecommunications companies are reportedly close to al-Ittihad (prompting the U.S. government to freeze the funds of a number of remittance companies after the September 11 attacks). They are well situated to move goods and money, and maintain links with international contacts in the UAE, Kenya, North America, and Europe. The AIAI has received assistance from Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, as well as Islamic supporters in Djibouti and Kenya. Eritrea was accused of providing arms to the AIAI during the border war, likely to lure Ethiopian forces away from the disputed border region.
Structured to include members of different clans, and allied with regional groups, the AIAI appears independent of any factional control - a definite break from traditional Somali clanism. The clan is the overriding organizational force in Somalia's history, although near-universal adherence to moderate Sunni Islam is another uniting feature.
The Somali ethnic identity includes a Muslim identity, even among non-observant members of the populace, and can be a valuable tool of short-term mass mobilization, especially when fueled by xenophobia, or by the experience of being a Somali minority - as are members of the Ogaden clan in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. In this area, the population tends to exhibit a heightened Islamic adherence.
