The civil war in Somalia was not without the intervention of the US armed forces and UN peacekeepers. The dictatorial regime of Mohammed Siad Barre, bored by the inhabitants of the country, forced the citizens to take extreme measures.
Background to the Somali Civil War
General Mohammed Siad Barre came to power in 1969 through a military coup. His course was to build socialism while preserving Islamic laws. Until 1977, the leader received active support from the Soviet Union, which used the military coup in Somalia for personal purposes. But due to the outbreak of war between Mohammed Siad Barre and Ethiopia, also an object of Soviet influence, the Soviet regime decided to stop helping the Somali dictator. The cause of the civil war in Somalia subsequently served as a regime in the country, which began to become more totalitarian and intolerant of dissent. This plunged Somalia into a long-term senseless and bloody confrontation. The civil war in Somalia 1988-1995, the prerequisites, the course and consequences of which were predetermined, left a serious imprint on Somali statehood as a whole.
Preparing for war. Grouping
In April 1978, a group of Somali army military personnel attempted a coup by forcibly overthrowing the leader. At the head of the rebels was Colonel Muhammad Sheikh Usmaan from the Majertin clan. The attempt was unsuccessful, and all the conspirators were sentenced to death. However, one of them - Lt. Col. Abdillaahi Yusuf Ahmad managed to escape to Ethiopia and organize a special front there called the Somali Salvation Front, which is opposed to the Siad Barre regime. In October 1982, this group united with a party of workers and democratic forces, resulting in the formation of the Somali Democratic Salvation Front.
In parallel with these events, an association of Somali emigrants in London, the Somali National Movement (SNM), arose in April 1981 to overthrow the regime, which was subsequently transferred to Ethiopia.
Military confrontation
On January 2, 1982, SND troops attacked government forces, and in particular Mandera prison, releasing several prisoners. From that moment, a state of emergency began to operate in Somalia, a ban on entry and exit from the territory of northern Somalia was introduced, and to prevent flight, it was decided to close the border with Djibouti. The second military invasion happened six months later, when in mid-July all the same rebels from Ethiopia attacked Central Somalia, capturing the cities of Balumbale and Galdogrob. Due to the threat of the country's disintegration into two parts, the Somali government declared a state of emergency in the conflict zone and called for Western troops to help. The United States and Italy began supplying military assistance to the Somali regime in the form of military equipment. A civil war broke out throughout the country, only from 1985 to 1986, the SND troops conducted about 30 military operations.
Temporary Truce
The last confrontation on the road to a short-term ceasefire was in February 1988, when rebels captured villages around Togochale, a refugee camp. And on April 4, Mohammed Siad Barre and Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam signed a joint agreement on the restoration of diplomatic relations and the exchange of prisoners of war, the withdrawal of troops from border zones, the termination of subversive activities and propaganda.
Continuation of hostilities as a result of the revolution
Subsequently, the SND units launched their offensives in northern Somalia, as the official authorities of Ethiopia refused to provide military assistance to the group, as well as to provide all kinds of political support. On May 27, SND forces took control of the city of Burao and Hargeisa. In response, government forces fired on the city of Hargeisa through intensive aerial bombardments and heavy guns. 300,000 residents were forced to flee to Ethiopia. The popularity of Siad Barre fell, resulting in mass executions of prominent Somali people and terror against various clans that formed the basis of the country's population.
Units of the Joint Somali Congress (ACS) began to play an important role in the war after the 1990s, which could then easily capture the capital of Mogadishu, but the council of elders served as the main obstacle in this, saying that the attack on Mogadishu would provoke massive repression against the civilian population sides of government forces. Meanwhile, Siad Barre committed atrocities in the city, provoking citizens to kill each other. On January 19, 1991, USC units entered the capital, and on January 26, Siad Barre fled with the remnants of his troops, plundering and devastating villages along the way. Along with his departure, the country lost infrastructure and administration.
Effects
After the overthrow of the Siad regime, Barre Ali Mahdi Mohammed was appointed interim president of the country on January 29 by decree of the Joint Congress of Somalia. This was followed by a proposal to other groups to form a new government, which was not answered favorably, and the country was swallowed up by clan clashes and a new struggle for power. At the same time, Siad Barre made an attempt to regain his influence, but it turned out to be a failure due to the strong resistance of his former general. The civil war in Somalia of 1993 in the city of Mogadishu between the US special forces and the group of General Aidid, who broke away from the Joint Congress of Somalia, was especially bloody, the forces of which significantly exceeded the US. As a result of urban clashes, US special forces suffered serious losses in the form of 19,000 people killed, in connection with which it was decided to withdraw American troops from Somalia and transfer powers to resolve the conflict to UN peacekeeping forces.
Somalia Civil War and African Union Peacekeeping Operation
At a regular UN session on September 22, 1999, the President of Djibouti, I.O. Gulleh, proposed a phased plan for resolving the conflict in Somalia, which was also unsuccessful. Somaliland’s government public education forces have taken decisive steps to hinder the implementation of their plans, considering efforts to resolve the conflict as a direct intervention in the political life of an independent region. Somaliland also suspected that the United States was behind Djibouti, and saw this as a threat to itself, recalling the year 1990.
Today, the territory of Somalia is a community of independent territories, periodically warring among themselves, and any attempts to resolve conflicts do not bring tangible results.