Main Events in Somalia History From 1991 to Nowdays

Somalia After 1991

6/1990 Publication of the "Manifesto," signed by 114 business people, religious and former political figures, (who come to be known as the "Manifesto Group"), calling for dialogue and political reform. Many of the Manifesto signees are imprisoned. Ali Mahdi Mohamed emerges as one of the main leaders of Mogadishu Hawiye opposition. The USC-Mogadishu emerges late in the year and is led by Ali Mahdi, Hussein Haji Bod and others. By 1990, faced by multiple liberation fronts, Barre’s forces lose control of most of the countryside. Growing loss of control of Mogadishu; by late 1990, most internationals evacuate.

1991 - Opposition clans oust Barre who is forced to flee the country.

1/26/1991 Barre and his remaining forces flee the capital to Kismayo. USC and its supporters claim control of Mogadishu. Period of looting and chaos ensues in the capital. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis are internally displaced as they relocate to areas that their clans control. In the countryside, retreating Barre forces pillage and lay waste to villages. Only the northern sections of the country are spared from the looting and fighting.

1/29/1991 Ali Mahdi is elected president by a small group of Hawiye notables in Mogadishu. This decision is disputed by many, who oppose a nomination process that lacked broad consultations. Madhi’s "presidency" goes unrecognised internationally.

5/18/1991 Somali National Movement (SNM) declares independence for the Somaliland Republic and elects Abdirahman Tuur, then Chairman of the SNM, as the first President of Somaliland. The secessionist state goes unrecognised internationally.

3/1991 Siyad Barre’s forces launch a new offensive to retake Mogadishu. The counter-offensive led by General Aideed reaches Kismayo. In the process, the inter-riverine region is repeatedly plundered and its population subjected to brutalities by free-lance militia, setting the stage for famine conditions.

9/1991 Siyad Barre forces take over Baidoa. Fighting spreads in April 1992 to South Central Somalia creating the conditions for a major famine in this area.

11/17/1991 Rivalry between Ali Mahdi and General Aideed within the USC spills over heavy fighting in Mogadishu between November 1991 and April 1992, splitting the Hawiye. Thousands of people are killed or wounded; most of the centre of Mogadishu is destroyed; and the city is divided by the Green Line. Humanitarian conditions worsen in the city. Aideed forms a coalition known as the Somali National Alliance (SNA). Similar intra-clan fighting breaks out over control of Kismayo within the Darood clan, pitting Col. Omar Jess and his Ogaden militia against the forces of General Mohamed Sayid Hersi "Morgan," who leads a predominantly Harti-Marehan clan coalition.

1991 - Former British protectorate of Somaliland declares unilateral independence.

1992 Famine rages throughout much of southern Somalia for most of the year, peaking in June-July of 1992 in the epi-centre of the famine, Baidoa. Increasing international media coverage and of frustrated attempts by aid agencies to respond to the famine. Food aid is repeatedly looted as militias profiteer off of the crisis. Militias battles are increasingly over control of the food relief itself.

3/1992 UNOSOM I (UN Operation in Somalia) created. Mohamed Sahnoun is appointed Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General and attempts to broker a peace. A small Pakistani UN peacekeeping unit is deployed to the Mogadishu airport over the summer but is unable to control the airport from militias.

7/1992 US President George Bush announces "Operation Provide Relief," a massive airlift of food aid to zones of famine in southern Somalia using US military aircraft, but no peacekeeping forces. The operation reaches some populations, but distribution of aid goes uncontrolled and attracts militia and looting. The famine continues, and by October peaks in the Jubba valley.

12/1992 "Operation Restore Hope," a US-led, UN-sanctioned multinational peacekeeping force, is announced. 30,000 UNITAF troops land in Somalia, taking control of seaports, airports, and major roads, and provide security for relief operations. This dramatic move quickly ends the famine in southern Somalia and freezes militia conflicts. General Aideed, who sharply opposed proposals for UN peacekeeping in the past, changes policies and welcomes the intervention. Following a protracted debate within the UN and US, the UNITAF mandate is limited to protection of humanitarian relief, and makes little effort to disarm the militias, though it does impose cantonment of weaponry.

1992 - US Marines land near Mogadishu ahead of a UN peacekeeping force sent to restore order and safeguard relief supplies.

3/1993 UN convenes 15 factions to negotiate a comprehensive national reconciliation agreement in Addis-Ababa. It calls for disarmament and establishes a process for the creation of a transitional national council as well as regional and district councils. How the district and regional councils are to be chosen (by local populations or by factions) is left unclear, however, and later becomes a source of sharp disagreement. Also in March, the UN Security Council establishes UNOSOM II (Resolution 814), giving the UN operation a broad peace enforcement mandate that includes disarmament and support of the reestablishment of a Somali state.

4/5/1993 US-led forces (UNITAF) turn over authority to UNOSOM II, which is led by American Admiral Jonathan Howe.

5/5/1993 Mohamed Ibrahim Egal is elected as President of Somaliland by the "Guurti" (assembly of elders) at the Boroma Conference. This meeting ends a year of fighting in the Northwest due following the collapse of the SNM and ensuing clan rivalries. The accord provides an institutional framework for the new authority of Somaliland.

5/1993 General Aideed returns to Mogadishu after a two-month trip abroad. He accuses UNOSOM of anti-SNA bias; tensions mount between UNOSOM and the SNA in Mogadishu.

6/5/1993 24 UNOSOM Pakistani troops are killed in an ambush by General Aideed’s supporters, following an inspection of an SNA arms cantonment site. This leads to UN armed retaliation against SNA installations and a campaign to arrest Aideed. Most armed operations are carried out by US forces. A virtual urban war ensues between the Aideed’s Haber-Gedir sub-clan and the U.S. in Mogadishu. Several heavy clashes and bombardments especially, on June 17 and on July 12, lead to high civilian casualties and create mounting international criticism of the UN mission. Efforts to capture Aideed fail.

6/1993 Frustrated by the worsening situation in Mogadishu and the failure of faction leaders to adhere to the Addis Ababa accords, UNOSOM devotes energies to building local-level administration in districts throughout the country, and sponsors regional-level peace processes. This "bottom-up" approach meets with scattered success - some district councils are formed, and local peace accords between feuding clans forged in Bardhere, Kismayo, Afmadow, and elsewhere.

3/10/1993 In a military operation in South Mogadishu, a fire-fight leads to the deaths of 18 US Special Forces soldiers and hundreds of Somalis. Uncontrolled youths drag US bodies through the streets of Mogadishu, scenes broadcast on international media. Four days later, President Clinton announces that all US troops will pull out by the end of March 1994. The same decision is taken by many other Western States in the following weeks.

1/1994 A peace agreement is signed in Mogadishu between Hirab clans (mostly Haber Gidir and Abgaal). Though Aideed and Mahdi remain political rivals, fighting between their clans ceases. This agreement brings back some normalisation in a divided city.

2/1994 Armed clashes break out in Kismayo between SPM and SPM/SNA. The Absame militia and most of the Absame population are driven out of the town.

3/1994 UNOSOM shifts strategies from a bottom-up to a top-down approach, seeking to broker a deal between what it perceives to be the strongest factions/militias in the country. The first such effort occurs in Nairobi. Following these talks, a new agenda for national reconciliation is agreed to by Aideed and Ali Mahdi as leaders of the two main political groupings, respectively the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and the Somali Salvation Alliance (SSA). But the accords are not implemented.

3/1994 USA military forces complete their withdrawal from Somalia. Most other contingents of UNOSOM leave behind a smaller, mainly Third World, forces with limited equipment and a diminished mandate.

7/9/1994 Lower Jubba Peace Conference leads to a peace agreement signed by General Morgan and SNA representative, Osman Atto. However, General Morgan’s real adversaries in Lower Jubba, the Absame clan, do not take part, making the peace accord stillborn.

1995 - UN peacekeepers leave, having failed to achieve their mission.

1/2/1995 Siyad Barre dies in exile in Nigeria

3/31/1995 UNOSOM forces and civilian officials depart Somalia after a long period of draw-down, leaving the country still divided and with no central government. The UN imposes an arms embargo on Somalia, but subsequently international backers of different factions supply them with military assistance.

6/15/1995 General Aideed declares a government, but at the same time, his faction splits. His former financial backer Osman Atto declares he is Chairman of the SNA. Aideed’s self-declared government is not recognised internationally and is unable to administer the portion of the city it claims to control.

9/1995 General Aideed’s forces occupy Baidoa, displacing much of the population of Baidoa town. This move leads to the creation of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army, which begins to launch guerrilla attacks on Haber-Gedir and Rahanweyn allied to them.

1996 Fighting breaks out between the forces of General Aideed and Osman Atto in South Mogadishu.

1/8/1996 General Aideed dies of gunshot wounds sustained in a neighbourhood battle. His son, Hussein Aideed (formerly a corporal in the United States Marines Corps Reserve) takes over his "presidency".

1996 - Warlord Muhammad Aideed dies of his wounds and is succeeded by his son, Hussein.

1997 - Clan leaders meeting in Cairo agree to convene a conference of rival clan members to elect a new national government.   .

3/1/1997 Leaders of the SSA and Osman Atto meet in Sodere, Ethiopia, and sign an agreement to seek a comprehensive peace settlement and establishment of a new government of Somalia. However, tensions within Ali Mahdi’s Abgal clan worsens, leading to armed conflict in North Mogadishu.

12/3/1997 President Egal of Somaliland is reinstated for an additional term of two years. A new constitution is adopted giving him major leverage in all decisions.

8/1997 Combined Ethiopian and SNF (Marehan) forces attack Al-Ittihad strongholds in Gedo region. Ethiopia increasingly provides direct support to several factions, including SNF, RRA, General SPM/Morgan, SSDF/Abdullahi Yusuf, and the USC/PM (the Hawadle clan, in Belet Weyn).

12/22/1997 Leaders of 30 factions sign a peace accord in Cairo. Like past accords, it is not implemented, but it solidifies a growing alliance between two former adversaries, Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed. The Cairo accord is sponsored by Egypt, whereas the Sodere meeting was sponsored by Ethiopia. Diplomatic rivalry and divergent interests between Egypt (and Libya) and Ethiopia begin to play a significant role in the Somali impasse.

1998 A Saudi ban on Somali livestock due to perceived threat of disease severely affects Somaliland, which depends on livestock exports to the Gulf for most of its hard currency.

7/3/1998 Under pressure from Middle East patrons Egypt and Libya, Mogadishu-based faction leaders (Ali Mahdi, Osman Atto, Hussein Aideed, and Mohamed Qanyare Afrah) negotiate the establishment of a Benadir regional authority. Hussein Ali Ahmed is named Governor by the 50-man Benadir Regional Supreme Council. But opposition from other militia leaders in Mogadishu, Hussein Bod and Muse Sude, and wavering by Osman Atto, blocks progress and prevents the reopening of the seaport. Hussein Aideed formally relinquishes his claim that was made in February to the "Presidency" of Somalia, which had not received international recognition.

7/1998 Leaders in the Northeast agree in Garowe to form "Puntland," a regional state of Somalia composed of Harti-inhabited areas, including Bari and Nugal regions and parts of Mudug, Sanaag and Sool regions. The decision to include Harti-inhabited portions of regions falling within the borders of Somaliland raises tension between Somaliland authorities and the new Puntland President, Abdullahi Yusuf.

2000 August - Clan leaders and senior figures meeting in Djibouti elect Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president of Somalia.

2000 October - Hassan and his newly-appointed prime minister, Ali Khalif Gelayadh, arrive in Mogadishu to heroes' welcomes.

Restoring order

2000 October - Gelayadh announces his government, the first in the country since 1991.

2001 January - Somali rebels seize the southern town of Garbaharey, reportedly with Ethiopian help.

2001 February - The French oil group, TotalFinaElf, signs an agreement with the Somali transitional government to carry out oil exploration in the south of the country; one of Somalia's main faction leaders, Mohamed Qanyareh Afrah, signs accord recognising interim government, reportedly in return for the promise of ministerial posts.

2001 April - Somali warlords, backed by Ethiopia, announce their intention to form a national government within six months, in direct opposition to the country's transitional administration.

2001 May - Dozens killed in Mogadishu's worst fighting in months between transitional government forces and militia led by warlord Hussein Aideed.

2001 May - Referendum in breakaway Somaliland shows overwhelming support for independence.

2001 July - Heavy fighting in Mogadishu further undermines attempts to restore a central authority.

2001 August - Forces of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council seize Kismayo for General Mohammed Hirsi Morgan.

2001 August - UN appeals for food aid for half a million people in the drought-hit south.

After September 11

2001 September - UN, EU evacuate foreign aid workers in period of uncertainty in wake of attacks on US.

2001 October - UN security council recommends new measures to help strengthen the peace process, including a new mission which would make a security assessment.

2001 November - Faction leaders meeting in Nairobi agree to take steps towards reconciliation.

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