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Somali Rebellion | |||||||
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Part of the Revolutions of 1989 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
| USC [2] SNM SPM SSDF Supported by: Ethiopia [3] [4] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Siad Barre Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan Muhammad Ali Samatar | Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed Mohamed Farrah Aidid Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur [5] Bashir Bililiqo |
The Somali Rebellion was the beginning of the civil war in Somalia that occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s. The rebellion started in 1978 when President Siad Barre began using his special forces, the "Red Berets" (Duub Cas), to attack clan-based dissident groups opposed to his regime. The dissidents had been becoming more powerful for nearly a decade following his abrupt switch of allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States and the disastrous 1977-78 Ogaden War.
When Barre was injured in an automobile accident on May 23, 1986, rivals within his own government and from opposition groups became bolder and entered into open conflict. Siad Barre's flight from the capital, on January 26, 1991, marked a distinct shift in the conflict. From that date, fighting continued up until the April 1992 United Nations mission to Somalia, UNOSOM I, followed two years later by UNOSOM II. Barre's collective punishment [6] referred to his clan-based violence against what he viewed as rival clan members during the anti-Barre Somali Rebellion. The most egregious forms of clan-based violence perpetrated by the Barre dictatorship were against the Isaaq and Majeerteen clans. [7]
In the aftermath of the Ogaden War, a group of disgruntled army officers attempted a coup d'état against the regime in April 1978. Their leader was Colonel Mahammad Shaykh Usmaan, a member of the Majeerteen clan, which resides mostly in northeastern Somalia. The coup failed and seventeen alleged ringleaders, including Usmaan, were summarily executed. All but one of the executed were of the Majeerteen clan. One of the plotters, Lieutenant Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed escaped to Ethiopia and founded an anti-Siad Barre organization initially called the Somali Salvation Front (SSF; later the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, SSDF).
One of Barre's earliest forms of collective punishment targeting non-combatant clans was against the Majeerteen in 1979. Between May and June 1979, his presidential Guard, called the Red Beret, killed over 2000 Majeerteen clan members. The Umar Mahmud sub-lineage of Majeerteen particularly became the victims of this violence. [8] Although this violence was in response to the Majeerteen-based SSDF, Barre on the other hand began to target the entire clan. [9] Each subsequent attack by the SSDF resulted in collective punishment against the wider Majeerteen. This included sieges and blockades against Majeerteen-inhabited areas, closure of schools, closure of health-facilities, and the destruction of subsistence facilities such as water reservoirs and cattle. Each action by the Barre government, strengthened Majeerteen resolve against his regime. [9]
The Red Berets systematically smashed the small reservoirs in the area around Galkayo so as to deny water to the Umar Mahamuud Majeerteen sub-clans and their herds. In May and June 1979, more than 2,000 Umar Mahamuud, the Majeerteen sub-clan of Colonel Ahmad, died of thirst in the waterless area northeast of Galkayo, Garoowe, and Jariban. In Galkayo, members of the Victory Pioneers, the urban militia known for harassing civilians, raped large numbers of Majeerteen women. In addition, the clan lost an estimated 50,000 camels, 10,000 cattle, and 100,000 sheep and goats.
In April 1981, a group of Isaaq businesspeople, students, former civil servants and former politicians who lived in the United Kingdom founded the Somali National Movement in London. [10] Initially, the aim of the various groups that merged to create the SNM was not to create an armed liberation front, but rather these groups formed as a direct response to the harsh policies enacted by the Barre regime against the Isaaq people. [11]
By 1982 the SNM transferred their headquarters to Dire Dawa in Ethiopia, [12] as both Somalia and Ethiopia at the time offered safe havens of operation for resistance groups against each other. From there the SNM successfully launched a guerrilla war against the Barre regime through incursions and hit and run operations on army positions within Isaaq territories before returning to Ethiopia. [11] The SNM continued this pattern of attacks from 1982 and throughout the 1980s, at a time the Ogaden Somalis (some of whom were recruited refugees) made up the bulk of Barre's armed forces accused of committing acts of genocide against the Isaaq people of the north. [13]
A policy letter written by Barre's son-in-law and viceroy in the north General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan known as The Morgan Report [14] formed the basis of the Barre regime's retaliation against the Isaaq following a successful SNM attack on Hargeisa and Burao. The policy letter provided “implemented and recommended measures” for a “final solution” to Somalia's “Isaaq problem”. [15]
According to Rebecca Richards, a systematic state violence that followed was linked to the Barre government's belief that SNM attacks were receiving assistance from the Ethiopian government. The harsh reprisals, widespread bombing and burning of villages by Barre regime followed every time there was an attack by SNM believed to be hiding in Ethiopia. [16] The regime violence in the north and northwest was disproportionate, affected many communities, particularly Isaaq. The number of civilian deaths in this massacre is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000 [17] according to various sources, whilst local reports estimate the total civilian deaths to be upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians. [18] The government attack included the levelling and complete destruction of the second and third largest cities in Somalia, [19] Hargeisa (which was 90 per cent destroyed) [20] and Burao (70 per cent destroyed) respectively through a campaign of aerial bombardment, and had caused 400,000 Somalis [21] (primarily of the Isaaq clan) to flee their land and cross the border to Hartasheikh in Ethiopia as refugees, creating the world's largest refugee camp then (1988), [22] with another 400,000 being internally displaced. [21]
A United Nations investigation concluded that the Barre regime's killing of Isaaq civilians was a genocide, and that the crime of genocide was "conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somali government against the Isaaq people". [23]
The Hawiye moved quickly to occupy the south portion of Somalia. The capital of Mogadishu is located in the territory of the Abgaal subclan of Hawiye. [24] Since the independence era, the Hawiye tribe had occupied important administrative positions in the bureaucracy and in the top army command. However, in the late 1980s disaffection with the regime set in among the Hawiye, who felt increasingly marginalized by the Siad Barre regime. A number of Hawiye elites had joined the earlier SODAF, SSDF and the SNM movements before converging to form their own branch in the very late 80s, the United Somali Congress. [25]
Taisier M. Ali states that Barre assuaged the Majeerteen, and targeted other groups like the Hawiye. According to Ali, "with funds and clan appeals, he [Barre] was able to entice the bulk of SSDF fighters to return from Ethiopia and participate in his genocidal wars against the Isaaq in the north and later against the Hawiye in the South, including Mogadisho". [26] According to Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, the vicious atrocities during the reign of Barre were not an isolated event nor unusual in Somalia's history. Barre also targeted the Hawiye. [27]
Faced with saboteurs by day and sniper fire by night, Siad Barre ordered remaining units of the badly demoralized Red Berets to kill civilians on a large scale. By 1989 torture and killing became the order of the day in Mogadishu.
The Red Berets killed 450 Muslims demonstrating against the arrest of their spiritual leaders. More than 2,000 were seriously injured. The next day, forty-seven people, mainly from the Isaaq clan, were taken to Jasiira Beach west of the city and summarily executed. The July mass killings prompted a shift in United States policy as the United States began to distance itself from Siad Barre.
With the loss of United States support, the regime grew more desperate. An anti-Siad Barre demonstration on July 6, 1990, at a soccer match in the main stadium deteriorated into a riot, causing Siad Barre's bodyguard to panic and open fire on the demonstrators. At least sixty-five people were killed. A week later, while the city reeled from the impact of what came to be called the Stadia Corna Affair, Siad Barre sentenced to death 46 prominent members of the Manifesto Group, a body of 114 notables who had signed a petition in May calling for elections and improved human rights. During the show trial that resulted in the death sentences, demonstrators surrounded the court and activity in the city came to a virtual halt. On July 13, a shaken Siad Barre dropped the charges against the accused. As the city celebrated victory, Siad Barre, conceding defeat for the first time in twenty years, retreated into his bunker at the military barracks near the airport.
The most shocking and gruesome revenge Siad Barre took against the Hawiye, in particular the Hawadle sub-clan was the massacre he ordered in January 1991, just before he escaped Mogadishu for his clan strongholds in the deep south of Somalia. It is estimated that over 6,000 individuals died in the massacre of Beledweyne, including women and children. This was a major turning point for the USC and further fueled the need to overthrow Siad Barre's regime - eventually proving successful as he was overthrown in late January. This incident in Beledweyne was the major cause for clan tensions as Siad Barre's militias mainly consisted of Marehan, Ogaden and Majeerteen militias, led by General Morgan (Majeerteen) - who had caused many civilian deaths towards Isaaq's (SNM) by sending bombers to attack the northern cities, including Hargeisa (Somalia's second largest city).
In response to mutinies by Hawiye soldiers in October 1989, the Red Berets began attacking Hawiye civilians. According to history professor Robert F. Baumann in his book 'My Clan Against The World: US And Coalition Forces In Somalia, 1992-1994', this shift of antagonism towards the Hawiye was a major military blunder since Barre's stronghold happened to be in Mogadishu, whose environs are majority Hawiye. These actions by Barre sealed his fate, as by 1990 the predominantly Hawiye USC (United Somali Congress) military group had beset the capital of Mogadishu.
The bulk of the Darood clan refugees who fled the Ethiopia-Somalia war were of the Ogaden subclan. [28] Barre's hostility towards the Ogaden was in part derived from the huge influx of their clan members in the aftermath of war with Ethiopia, which resulted in a swelling of their numbers. This surge in their population resulted in what he viewed as an undue influence, with a change in the balance of power away from his own Marehan subclan towards the Ogaden subclan. This resulted in Barre dismissing several military officers who were of Ogaden lineage. The friction escalated when Barre purged the minister of defense, Aden Gabiyo, from office, who was of the Ogaden subclan. In May 1989, this culminated into a revolt by Ogaden soldiers stationed in Kismaayo, the formation of an anti-Barre military faction formed of Ogaden clansmen called SPM (Somali Patriotic Movement) and the defection of Ogaden colonel Omar Jess. [9]
In early December 1990, the United Somali Congress held positions about 30 km northeast of the capital. Widespread violence was reported in Mogadishu, even before the main assault into the city, as a large portion of Mogadishu's population was armed during the period. [29] On 29 December 1990, some of Barre's armed men, organized into gangs for looting, seized large amounts of money from a Hawiye-owned store- armed men from many factions rushed to the scene, and soon, the forces of the United Somali Congress were battling with government forces in Mogadishu. [30] [31] The USC claimed to hold "99% of Mogadishu" by 31 December, saying that fighting was ongoing around the palace and the airport, [32] and claimed to control the capital on January 1, but this was denied by government officials, who claimed that they were still controlling the city, while also claiming that fighting was restricted in size. [31]
Mohamed Hawadle Madar was quoted to have said that the rebels had been beaten back from an assault into Wardigley district, where the palace is located. [33] The rebels claimed to have captured the cities' radio station, Radio Mogadishu, by January 2, but a government broadcast from the station disproved this; by this time, the government was generally known to have controlled central Mogadishu. [34] The Somali rebels rejected attempts by Siad Barre to introduce a ceasefire, and only allowed foreign military evacuations under the watch of the Red Cross, which the Red Cross agreed to. A USC spokesman claimed that 10,000 reinforcements were arriving to Mogadishu to oust the Somali government. [35] On 22 January, a ceasefire was implemented, according to Somali government radio, [36] but days later, on 26 January, rebels overran the last government defenses at the Mogadishu Airport and the Presidential Palace and ousted Siad Barre, ending his 21-year rule. It was rumored that he had fled in a tank. The rebels announced their victory on the formerly government-operated radio station. [37]
In 1991, the Somali National Movement declared the northwestern portion of the country independent. Although internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia, Somaliland, as with neighboring Puntland, has remained relatively peaceful. [38]
Mohamed Farrah Hassan Garad, known as General Aidid or Aideed was a Somali general and diplomat.
Mohammed Siad Barre was a Somali military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the Head of state of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 January 1991.
The Somali Democratic Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiya Soomaaliyeed; Arabic: الجمهورية الديمقراطية الصومالية, al-Jumhūrīyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭīyah aṣ-Ṣūmālīyah; was the name of the socialist totalitarian military government dictatorship given to Somalia under President Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, after seizing power in a coup d'état on 21 October 1969. The coup came a few days after a bodyguard assassinated Abdirashid Shermarke, the nation's second President. Barre's administration ruled Somalia for the next 21 years until Somalia collapsed into civil war in 1991.
The Western Somali Liberation Front was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to liberate the Ogaden region from Ethiopian control. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977–78, assisting the invading Somali Army.
The United Somali Congress (USC) was one of the major rebel organizations in Somalia. Formed in 1989, it played a leading role in the ouster of the government of Siad Barre in 1991, and became a target of the Unified Task Force campaign in 1993. Following infighting, the USC later splintered into smaller groups. By 2000, with the establishment of a Transitional National Government (TNG), a process of disarmament was put in motion and some moderate ex-USC leaders were incorporated into the new interim administration.
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed Forces began engaging in combat against various armed rebel groups, including the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. The clan-based armed opposition groups overthrew the Barre government in 1991.
Mohammad Ali Samatar was a Somali military officer,politician, and former Commander-in-Chief of the Somali National Army. He was the only officer to reach the rank of Lieutenant General in the history of the Somali Armed Forces.
The Somali National Movement was one of the first and most important organized guerilla groups and Mujahideen groups that opposed the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 1990s, as well as being the main anti-government faction during the Somaliland War of Independence. The organisation was founded in London, England, on April 6, 1981 by Hassan Isse Jama, Hassan Adan Wadadid, and Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid and other former Somali diplomats, who stated that initially the group's purpose was to overthrow the Siad Barre regime.
Following the civil war and the ensuing societal chaos, some factions managed to exert a degree of authority over certain regions of Somalia where they maintained broad, clan-based support. This allowed these factions to establish working administrations and eventually coherent states, and restored order to their regions. This occurred first in Puntland, Southwestern Somalia, Galmudug, Jubaland and finally Banadir.
Major General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan, also known as General Morgan or Colonel Morgan, is a Somali military and faction leader. He was the son-in-law of Siad Barre and Minister of Defence of Somalia. He hails from the Majeerteen Darood clan.
Over the course of the Somali Civil War, there have been many revolutionary movements and militia groups run by competing rebel leaders which have held de facto control over vast areas within Somalia.
The Somali Air Force is the air force of Somalia. Called the Somali Aeronautical Corps (SAC) during its pre-independence period (1954–1960), the Somali Air Force was renamed as such after Somalia gained independence in 1960. Ali Matan Hashi, Somalia's first pilot and person principally responsible for organizing the SAF, was its founder and served as its first Chief. At one point, the Somali Air Force had the strongest airstrike capability in the Horn of Africa. But by the time President Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in 1991, it had completely collapsed. The SAF headquarters was technically reopened in 2015.
Osman Mahmoud is a Somali sub-clan and is one of the largest sub-clans within the major Majeerteen Harti confederation of Darod. The sub-clan is most renowned for its rich history within Somalia, That of which include sultanates such as the Majeerteen Sultanate and Hobyo Sultanate.
The 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War occurred between June and August 1982 when Ethiopia, sending a 10,000 man invasion force backed by warplanes and armored units, supported by thousands of SSDF rebels invaded Central Somalia. The United States government responded by speeding up deliveries of light arms and main battle tanks already promised. In addition, the initially pledged US$45 million in economic and military aid was increased to US$80 million.
Aden Abdullahi Nur "Gabyow". was a very senior Somali, Military Officer, Faction Leader, Politician, a leading member and one of the most powerful men in the Somali Democratic Republic.
The Isaaq genocide, also known as the Hargeisa holocaust, was the systematic, state-sponsored genocide of Isaaq civilians between 1987 and 1989 by the Somali Democratic Republic, under the dictatorship of Siad Barre, during the Somaliland War of Independence. The number of civilian deaths in this massacre is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000, according to various sources, whilst local reports estimate the total civilian deaths to be upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians. The genocide also included the levelling and complete destruction of the second and third largest cities in the Somali Republic, Hargeisa and Burao, respectively, and had caused up to 500,000 Somalis of the region, primarily of the Isaaq clan, 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", which resulted in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp then (1988), with another 400,000 being displaced. The scale of destruction led to Hargeisa being known as the 'Dresden of Africa'. The killings happened during the Somali Civil War and have been referred to as a "forgotten genocide".
The Somaliland Peace Process refers to the series of grassroot initiatives that brought peace to Somaliland after the collapse of central government of Somalia. In conjunction with the Somali National Movement, communities in Somaliland negotiated a series of truces to end hostilities and address the grievances between the communities who were often on opposing sides to the Barre regime.
The Somaliland Declaration of Independence was made on 18 May 1991 by Somali sultans from the Isaaq, Dhulbahante, Issa, Gadabursi, Warsangali clans, as well as the Somali National Movement.
The Somaliland War of Independence was a rebellion waged by the Somali National Movement (SNM) against the ruling military junta in Somalia led by General Siad Barre lasting from its founding on 6 April 1981 and ended on 18 May 1991 when the SNM declared what was then northern Somalia independent as the Republic of Somaliland. The conflict served as the main theater of the larger Somali Rebellion that started in 1978. The conflict was in response to the harsh policies enacted by the Barre regime against the main clan family in Somaliland, the Isaaq, including a declaration of economic warfare on the clan-family. These harsh policies were put into effect shortly after the conclusion of the disastrous Ogaden War in 1978.
The 1988 Hargeisa-Burao offensive was a major offensive conducted during the Somaliland War of Independence in May 1988 by the Somali National Movement on the cities of Hargeisa and Burao, then the second and third largest cities of Somalia. The SNM captured Burao on 27 May within two hours, while the SNM entered Hargeisa on 29 May, overrunning most of the city apart from its airport by 1 June. During the offensive the Somali National Army committed gross human rights violations, including attacking the civilian population using heavy artillery and tanks.
in return for depriving the snm of its.
... not to mention that many of Barre's acts against clans (especially Issaq and, after 1978, Majerteen) themselves were acts of...