On This Day - August 9, 2011

ON THIS DAY - HEADLINES

News Item #1 - "Somalia's transitional government has offered a general amnesty to insurgent fighters in Mogadishu who surrender and promise to renounce violence." (Courtesy CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/07/somalia.insurgent.amnesty/index.html?hpt=hp_t2).

What does this all mean? Somalia is one of those situations in the world that we all know is bad - but do we know why? Do we really know what goes on there? We see the headlines that Somalia is having a horrible famine, that there are refugee camps and violence, but what is behind it all? How does one start to understand the basic problems in this country? Due to time and space constraints, news reports seldom give a full history of an issue in situations like this that have been developing for years. Thus it can be a daunting task to even know how to begin to understand a complex situation such as Somalia. Its difficult to decide to just start reading news reports on Somalia one day and hope to gradually figure it all out along the way. Understanding Somalia requires understanding its history, its geography, it's people, its religion, and its politics. Thankfully I live in the high-speed information age so answers truly are available at the click of a button. So, I'm going to attempt to learn a simplified historical background to the current situation in this ravaged country.

First, where is Somalia. This small country is located on the East coast of Africa along the area known as the horn of Africa.

Much of the country is desert and it suffers from heat and dust storms, which contributes to the country's famines. Only 13% of the land is arable and of that only about 2% is actually cultivated. Somalia has some natural resources but most remain untapped.

According to the U.S. State Department, in 2009 there were roughly 9.8 million people living in the Somalia. The workforce is only 3.4 million - mostly unskilled labor. 60% of the population is nomadic.

Second, what is the history of this small country? The BBC offers a simplified timeline (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1072611.stm) and the U.S. State Department (www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2863.htm) offers a more detailed account of the events that have made Somalia the hotbed of violence and suffering that is its chronic state. The following paragraphs provide a rough outline of historical events.

• In the 600s Arab tribes established the sultanate (country ruled by a sultan) of Aden along the Gulf of Aden (see map). By the 1500s the sultanate had broken up into a number of smaller states.
• In the 1800s several European countries had their eye on the Somali coast line. Trading with various African nations had increased and the British in particular wanted protected harbors along Somali's coast. Treaties were entered into between Britain and the sultan of Tarjura and between Britain and various Somali tribal chiefs. Egypt and France also established themselves in numerous areas along Somali's coast. Then in 1889 Italy came on the scene and established a protectorate in central Somali.
• Between 1897 and 1908 Italy negotiated with Ethiopia and Britain and established boundaries of what became Italian Somaliland. By 1936 Italian Somaliland combined with Somali-speaking parts of Ethiopia to form a province of Italian East Africa.
• In 1940 Italy occupied British Somaliland. In 1941 Britain occupied Italian Somalia.

• In 1950 Italian Somaliland became a UN trust territory but remained under Italian control. In 1956 it was renamed Somalia and granted internal autonomy. By 1960 the British and Italian parts of Somalia became independent and merged forming the United Republic of Somalia.

• The independent country did not stay peaceful for long though. In 1963 it was in a border dispute with Kenya and then in a border dispute with Ethiopia in 1964 which escalated into violence.
• Then things really turned bad for this small country. In 1969 the president was assassinated and Muhammad Siad Barre took power following a coup. He declared Somalia a socialist state and nationalized most of the economy. So here's where complex politics comes in. When Barre took power a 20-member Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) was established that combined the executive and legislative branches of power. According to the U.S. State Department, the SRC centralized control over information, reduced political freedoms, and used military force to seize and redistribute rich farmlands in the southern part of Somalia. Barre used force and terror to consolidate his power.
• Ethiopia and Somalia were border enemies for years. Tensions heated up again in 1972. After the Ethiopian government was overthrown in 1975, Somalia invaded that country to regain a territory known as Ogaden, where a large Somali population lived (see first map). But the new Ethiopian government had formed an alliance with the Soviet Union who provided Ethiopia with Cuban troops and Soviet military advisors. Ultimately Somalia was defeated.
• In 1974-75 Somalia suffered a devastating drought that cased mass starvation.
  
• After being defeated by Ethiopia, Somalia abandoned socialism and began looking to the West for international support and economic aid. The U.S. began helping in 1978 and two years later entered into an agreement that gave U.S. forces access to military facilities at the port of Berbera in the NW portion of Somalia. When Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 1982, U.S. forces provided two emergency airlifts to help the Somalians defend their territory. Somalia was considered a U.S. ally for a number of years and Somali officers were trained in U.S. military schools.
• Barre bore down heavy on his people and quickly crushed any uprising or opposition using violence to suppress his people. By the 1980s Somalia was engulfed in a civil war.
• Civil war continued throughout the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to neighboring countries to escape the violence. Barre's government robbed the treasury. The country was in ruins. The Somali army disintegrated and the military joined their clan militia. Barre was finally driven out in 1991 and the central government collapsed. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria.
• Throughout the 1990s different clans and groups tried to gain control and fought battles with each other. At various times the United States, international organizations, and a number of neighboring countries tried to help bring peace and aid to the war-torn country, without success.
• In 2000 the country of Djibouti hosted a major reconciliation conference (the 13th such effort by outsiders). This resulted in the creation of the Transitional National Government (TNG). But that mandate expired in 2003. Then a 14th conference was held that resulted in the establishment of a Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
• In 2006 and 2009 Ethiopia invaded again.
• An organization known as al-Shabaab (labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.) launched an insurgency and gained considerable power by effectively fighting off the Ethiopians, using intimidation tactics, and implementing shari'a law.
  
• An anti-al-Shabaab offensive begain in the western regions of southern Somalia in early 2011 and has seen some success. But al-Shabaab's violent attacks limit the TFG's ability to provide public services and prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid while the country undergoes yet another severe famine.

Whew! What a history!!! Al-Shabaab allegedly has links to al Qaeda. They've been waging war against the transitional government since 2006. On Saturday they retreated from the capital, Mogadishu. Today the transitional government offered them amnesty if they will simply stop the violence so humanitarian aid can get through. Unfortunately a spokesman for al-Shabaab says they merely retreated to review and revise their war tactics.

Over 12 MILLION people living in the region of the horn of Africa are suffering from starvation due to the famine. Somlia has been hit the hardest. Today's offer of amnesty was one more effort by the transitional government to stop the violence so food can be delivered to those dying from starvation. Sadly, according to news reports, al-Shabaab thinks this is just an excuse to justify occupation. And so the people continue to starve, and while we here have more food than we know what to do with, there people are literally dying everyday because they have no food and no water - and no help.

ON THIS DAY - IN HISTORY

On August 9, 1678, American Indians sold the Bronx to Jonas Bronck for 400 beads.

On this day in 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of England after the death of Queen Victoria.

In 1936 on August 9, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics. He was the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.

Smokey the Bear was created on this date in 1944.

On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb - this time on n Nagasaki, Japan. This was just three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. Over 74,000 people were killed.

On this day in 1974, President Nixon resigned. The American people have never fully recovered the respect they lost for the office of the President during this scandal. Gerald Ford was sworn in as the nation's 38th president.