Somalia's Internal Destruction

Somalia has Internally Worsened since 1960s

In the summer of 1992, the emerging famine in Somalia seemed incomprehensible. The Seattle Times reported that since 1991 civil war, an estimated 100,000 people had perished. Of that number, approximately 45,000 Somalis died of starvation and related diseases in seven months (Johnston 2). This was Somalia’s despairing condition in the summer and late fall of 1992 (Johnston 11). Somalia has been in conflict and crisis since the 1970s as a result of starvation, anarchy, and feuds between clans.

Many scholars ask whether Somalia will be consumed by its own problems or if it will be able to unravel itself from the chaos that surrounds it and forge a new and strange nation as it enters the twenty-first century. Forty-four years after independence, Somalia should have been a country at peace with itself. But it is not. Still bleeding from wounds inflicted by the civil war of 1991, it has effectively split into several mini-states and fiefdoms. The northern region has seceded and declared itself as the sovereign republic of Somaliland.

For the first nine years of its life as an independent nation, Somalia had a democratically elected government that the international community hoped would serve as a model for other nations newly freed from their colonial rulers. On October 1969, President Abdirashiid Ali Shermarke was assassinated. Mohamed Siad Barre came to power in his place; ruled the country for twenty-one years, until the beginning of 1991, when he was overthrown. Barre changed Somalia dramatically. He got rid of the Natural Assembly, suspended the country’s constitution, and prohibited any form of political gathering (Hussien 10). Meanwhile, from 1978 to 1979, the region suffered a severe drought, the cost of living skyrocketed, and people could not afford to buy food or fuel. Somalis grew desperate. By the late 1980s it had become clear to many Somalis that Barre had neither the skills nor the visions to lead the country out of its crisis. The government became the enemy of the nation. Thousands of people died daily in the civil war. Civilians were robbed and murdered. No place in Somalia was safe. Many homes had no telephones or electricity. In many cases, people had no idea if relatives living on the other side of the city were dead or alive. By 1992, one-fourth of the people of Somalia were estimated to be in danger of starvation. In 1993, a relief organization estimated that half of all Somali children less than five years of age had died of starvation.

Independence, it was hoped would mean for the Somali people a chance for the better. Instead, it brought them violence, internecine killings, economic collapse and disintegration. The current crisis dates back to October 21, 1969, when General Muhammad Siad Barre overthrew the civilian government and installed military dictatorship in place of parliamentary democracy. Conflict between ethnic and political groups has disrupted markets, preventing consistent availability of food items and health care supplies, and has damaged existing health and water facilities. Security issues have complicated response efforts in the south, with kidnapping, looting, and killings threatening both local and expatriate humanitarian aid workers.

The roots of the present disaster lie in the 21 year rule of President Muhammad Siad Barre (1969-91). The former dictator destroyed all independent institutions, making it difficult for voices of moderation to emerge. He manipulated clan loyalties and encouraged regional rivalries in order to maintain his grip on power. Following Barre’s defeat, the worst period in modern Somalia’s history began. In 1991 and 1992, 40,000 Somalis died in fighting between competing factions (Hussein 13-14). By 1992, one-fourth of the people of Somalia were estimated to be in danger of starvation. In 1993 a relief organization estimated that half of all Somali children under five years of age had died of starvation. In Somalia there were 5 clans at the time, all struggling for the power of the country. General Aidid’s clan was the strongest and he proclaimed himself president of Somalia. The clan leaders, warlords, and bandits continue in place and are no closer to agreement on power sharing than they were in 1991. Large quantities of arms remain in Somalia and are still disbursed throughout the populace (Abukar).

In recent years, the most obvious expression of this mentality has been seen in the persons of Muhammad Farah Aided and Ali Mahdi Mohamed, Somalia’s two most prominent warlords. The selfishness and abuse these two men and their followers inflicted against their own countrymen confirmed the fact that lack of food was not the main cause behind Somalia’s suffering. It was Self-proclaimed warlords who were responsible for so much of Somalia’s suffering and death. Leaders fought with each other, turning the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million into a patchwork of battling fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias.

Somalia was a nation without a government or central security force in which a collection of armed clan militia fought over the spoils. What little government remained was impotent in the face of continued warfare between the clans that were backing the various opponents of the failed regime. It seemed that nobody could halt Somalia’s slide into anarchy. The Somalis are deeply divided among various clans who wage bitter wars against each other. It is like having different segments of one large family, each with deep, irreconcilable distrust and hatred for the other.

Warlords, backed by the armed members of their respective clans, were in charge of Somalia. The most common cause of these famines has been drought, which has recurred farmers, and rural laborers. Pastoralists are, at present, less affected (Natsios 15). When a 1974-5 drought destroyed approximately 30 percent of Somalia’s livestock many in Somali ware faced with famine. The entire country, including the north which has seceded to form Somaliland, is in desperate straits.

Establishment of administrative structures is one of the most complex challenges facing the Somali people. Distributing food in Somalia is logistically straightforward but requires extremely careful planning to ensure security. Both Ali Mahdi and General Aided have shown themselves unwilling to let food relief move freely to areas of the city not under their control. Much of the economy has been destroyed by the civil war. The psychological effects on children of the current war are extremely difficult to assess. Tens of thousands have lost a parent; many have lost both. Thousands have been injured. None have been to school for more than a year. All are familiar with different forms of weaponry and with their