A History of Somalia

The area of Somalia has being inhabited for oversuccessfully implemented an urban and rural literacy
2,500 years by Afar, Cushitic and Somali ethnic groups.campaign, which helped dramatically increase the
From the first century, Romans and Greek wereliteracy rate from 5% to 55% by the mid-1980s.
trading in and out of the ports of Hafun andHowever, this was countered by the implementation of
Mosylon-Bandar Gori on the Somali coast. Thea brutal Marxist dictatorship which demanded upon the
Aksumite Empire controlled the north-west of thesupremacy of the party above local clan loyalties
region from the third century until the arrival in thewhich were an endemic feature of Somalia. In 1977,
seventh century of Islam. From the thirteenth centurySomalia attacked Ethiopia with the aim of liberating and
until the colonial period the area was ruled by cityuniting the Somali lands that had been partitioned by
states which were controlled by Somali clans. The agethe former colonial powers. Somalia soon overran
of imperialism transformed Somalia, Britain establishedEthiopian forces and were nearing Addis Ababa when
a protectorate called British Somaliland in 1886,Cuban and Soviet forces came to the aid of Ethiopia.
following the withdrawal of Egyptian garrisons fromSomali forces were beaten back, sending hundreds of
the area. And Italian Somaliland originated in 1889, whenthousands of Somali refugees flooding into Somalia.
Italy concluded agreements with two local rulers, whoAfter the defeat, many of the clan groups formed into
placed their territories under Italian protection. Followingguerrilla units with the intention of toppling the regime.
World War II although Somalis aided the Allied powersBy 1988, the country had been plunged into civil war,
in their struggle against the Axis powers, BritainSiad Barre was eventually ousted in 1991, he
retained control of both British Somaliland and Italianimmediately started a counter-revolution in an attempt
Somaliland as protectorates. In 1950 the Italiansto regain power. The situation became increasingly
returned to Somalia under a UN trusteeship, with themore chaotic evolving into a humanitarian crisis and
commitment to bring the colony to independence withineventually into a state of anarchy. The situation
ten years. British Somaliland became independent onbecame even more complicated when the faction
June 26, 1960, and the former Italian Somalilandcontrolling the former area of British Somaliland
followed suit five days later. On July 1, 1960, the twodeclared it’s independence calling it the Republic of
territories united to form the Somali Republic, albeitSomaliland. The UN intervened in 1993 in an attempt to
within boundaries drawn up by Italy and Britain. Manyalleviate famine conditions however amid fears of
clans claimed to have been forced into the new stateimperialism, the majority of Somalis opposed the
and inter-clan rivalry was a growing problem. In addition,foreign presence. Gun battles on the streets of
many of the clans wished to be re-united with kinsmenMogadishu, believed to be led by the warlord
in French Somaliland, Ethiopia and Kenya.Mohamed Farrah Aidid, resulted in the deaths of
In late 1969, following the assassination of Presidenttwenty-four Pakistani and nineteen American troops.
Shermarke, a military government assumed power in aAfter further casualties, the UN withdrew all forces in
coup d’etat led by General Siad Barre and Chief ofMarch, 1995. In the subsequent years many areas
Police Jama Korshel. Barre became President andbroke away from Somalia declaring themselves
Korshel vice-president. The revolutionary armyautonomous.
established large-scale public works programmes and