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Somali Civil War: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Since 1991: the collapse of the state, warlords, Black Hawk Down, the Islamic Courts, al-Shabaab and a country still being put back together.

Fought
1991 to present
Duration
35 years
Dates
1991 to present (ongoing)
Deaths
Estimates of 350,000 to over 500,000 from violence and famine
Main phases
Warlord era 1991-2006; ICU and Ethiopian intervention 2006-2009; al-Shabaab insurgency 2007-
Interventions
UNOSOM/UNITAF (1992-1995); Ethiopia (2006-2009); AMISOM/ATMIS (2007-); Kenya; US drone strikes; Turkey
Status
Federal government in Mogadishu; al-Shabaab controls parts of the south; Somaliland de facto independent

The Somali Civil War began with the overthrow of Siad Barre in January 1991 by clan-based rebel movements and the collapse of the state. Warlords fought over Mogadishu, famine killed some 300,000 in 1992, and a US-led UN intervention (1992-1995) ended in the Battle of Mogadishu and withdrawal. Somaliland declared independence in 1991 and Puntland autonomy in 1998. The Islamic Courts Union took Mogadishu in 2006 and was ousted by an Ethiopian invasion; its youth wing al-Shabaab became an al-Qaeda affiliate controlling much of the south, fighting the internationally backed federal government and the African Union mission AMISOM from 2007. A federal government exists in Mogadishu, but al-Shabaab still holds rural territory and mounts bombings, and the war has no formal end.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Somali Civil War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

15501600165017001750180018501900195020002050Somali Civil War (1991 to present)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: United StatesUnited States (1776 to present)Open: Conquests of Menelik IIConquests of Menelik II (1878 to 1904)Open: Italian EmpireItalian Empire (1882 to 1947)Open: Cold WarCold War (1947 to 1991)Open: Ethiopian Civil War and Eritrean War of IndependenceEthiopian Civil War and Eritrean War of Independence (1961 to 1991)Open: Burundian Civil WarBurundian Civil War (1993 to 2005)Open: Second Congo WarSecond Congo War (1998 to 2003)Open: War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) (2001 to 2021)

Estimated famine deaths in Somalia

0751502253001991-92: 3003001991-922010-12: 2602602010-122017 (averted): 20202017 (averted)2022 (drought): 43432022 (drought)thousands

Timeline of the Somali Civil War

  1. 1991
    Barre overthrown; Somaliland secedes
  2. 1992
    Famine; Operation Restore Hope
  3. 1993
    Battle of Mogadishu3 to 4 October.
  4. 2006
    Islamic Courts take Mogadishu; Ethiopian invasion
  5. 2007
    AMISOM deployed
  6. 2011
    Famine; al-Shabaab driven from Mogadishu
  7. 2012
    Federal government formed
  8. 2017
    Mogadishu truck bombingOver 500 killed.
  9. 2024
    AU mission transitions; al-Shabaab persists

State collapse and intervention

Barre's dictatorship, which had bombed the northern city of Hargeisa in 1988, fell to the Hawiye-based United Somali Congress and other clan militias in January 1991. Ali Mahdi and General Aidid fought over the capital; farming regions were looted and 300,000 died in the 1992 famine. Operation Restore Hope landed US Marines in December 1992; after Aidid's men killed 24 Pakistani peacekeepers, the hunt for him ended in the 3-4 October 1993 battle in which 18 US soldiers and hundreds of Somalis died. The US left in 1994, the UN in 1995.

Courts, Ethiopia and al-Shabaab

Warlords partitioned Mogadishu until the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of sharia courts, drove them out in June 2006 and brought brief order. Ethiopia, fearing an Islamist neighbour and backing the Transitional Federal Government, invaded in December 2006 with US support and took the capital. The ICU's hardline youth wing, al-Shabaab, waged an insurgency that made it the dominant force in the south by 2009 and declared allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012; it imposed harsh sharia, blocked famine aid in 2011 when 260,000 died, and struck Kampala, Nairobi's Westgate mall and Garissa.

A state rebuilt, a war unfinished

AMISOM's Ugandan, Burundian, Kenyan, Ethiopian and Djiboutian troops pushed al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu in 2011 and Kismayo in 2012; a federal government was installed in 2012 and indirect elections held. Al-Shabaab still taxes and rules rural areas, bombs the capital (a 2017 truck bomb killed over 500) and overruns AU bases; the government, clan militias and US air strikes fight it, and AU forces are drawing down. Somaliland runs its own democracy unrecognised; Puntland and other states quarrel with Mogadishu; drought and displacement continue.

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8 surprising things about the Somali Civil War

  1. Somalia had no functioning central government from 1991 to 2012, the longest such collapse in modern history.
  2. The Battle of Mogadishu, filmed as Black Hawk Down, ended US appetite for African intervention and shaped the response to Rwanda in 1994.
  3. Somali piracy off the Horn peaked in 2011 with over 200 attacks and prompted an international naval force.
  4. Somaliland, the former British protectorate, has held peaceful elections for 30 years and is recognised by no one.
  5. Al-Shabaab is estimated to raise 100 million dollars a year from taxation and extortion.
  6. The 14 October 2017 truck bomb in Mogadishu was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history.
  7. AMISOM was the African Union's largest and longest peacekeeping mission, at over 22,000 troops.
  8. Somalia's diaspora sends home over 1.5 billion dollars a year, more than the aid it receives.

Sources

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