Monday, March 6, 2017

HIWD 320 Final Presentation


The Somali Civil Unrest

Background

Early European explorers and writers described Somali as a geographical region occupied by people of mixed descent. According to these people, the Somalis were a mixed race of African and Arab origin. Prolonged interests into the Horn of Africa made them learn that actually, the Somalis were pure Africans in race, but with Islamic beliefs. Despite the fact that intermarriages between the Arabs and the indigenous Somali people occurred, the country remains mostly inhabited by people of the African race. Somalis are mainly homogenous despite the little presence of Bantus, Arabs, and Baravans, especially along the country’s coastline.[1]
"Portuguese Exploration Routes". Digital Image. Teaching History with 100 Objects. Accessed March 6,2017.https://www.teachinghistory100.org


The Somalis have maintained their traditional political and socioeconomic organization structure where people are organized into clans. The clans form the core political unit, and every socioeconomic and political decision is supposed to be made based on that alignment. Before the advent of colonialism, there was nothing like a single geopolitical state of Somali. These marriages of conveniences only occurred after colonialism where different clans in the Horn of Africa were forced to merge into one bureaucratic state. Therefore, Somalis have long used traditional methods of solving conflicts, including the use of traditional laws (Heers) and Islamic laws (Sharia). The fact that Somalis are largely a pastoralist community living in an arid area makes these traditional ways of conflict solving crucial. Natural resources such as pastures and water are shared according to consensuses reached by representatives of various clans occupying a single geographical area.

Effects of Colonization on Somali Unrest

"Political European Colonization Cartoon". Digital Image. April 19,2014.Accessed March 6,2016.http://hornofafrica.de
Somalia was colonized by several European powers and Ethiopia. These colonial powers divided Somalia into five regions; two colonized by the British while the remaining three were shared among France, Ethiopia, and Italy. Due to these partitions, the Somali people resisted the colonial forces differently. Sayid Muhamed Abdulle Hassan led a Somali rebellion group against the British in the Southern parts of the country while other different clan-based groups organized resistance against the French, Ethiopians, and Italians differently. From this point, the Somali people had started to see their colonial world in different perspectives, considering they were dealing with different European powers with different military abilities at the same time.[2]

After Italy was defeated in the Second World War, it could not support the additional expenses of running Somalia as its colony. Somalia was put under trusteeship for about ten years. After colonization, these parts of the country were given to Ethiopia and Kenya by the British and French forces. This, among other factors, mobilized the Somalis to fight to regain their lost regions from their neighboring countries, further straining their limited resources. Of significant note is the war between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977 over the Ogaden region, which cost the developing country its resources. Therefore, Somalia started the process of national healing on a disadvantaged note, setting the stage for further conflicts to control the remaining limited resource.[3]
"Greater Somalia"
FAH1223(Own work)[Public Domain],via Wikimedia Commonshttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greater_Somalia1.jpg

In 1960, both the Northern and Southern Somalia gained independence. Despite their differences, the two regions decided to unite into a central democratic republic between 1960 and 1969. During this period, the Somali Youth League, a political outfit that had played a core role in fighting for the country’s independence, formed the major political party. Other numerous political parties represented the diversity and interests of the many clans in the region. This too added momentum to the level of conflict because most of the political parties represented the specific and selfish interests of individual clans.


Geographical Location and the Somali Unrest

Somalia is largely a desert country. Before urbanization, water and pasture were considered scarce and important natural resources in this region. The most powerful clans identified and guarded most of these natural resources. Clanism has since haunted credible leadership in Somalia, whereby civilian leaders employ nepotism in the distribution of employment opportunities and education.[4]

Somalia has two neighbors, Kenya and Ethiopia. For many years, these two nations have benefitted from the unrest in the region. It is therefore in their interest that a unified Somalia Republic fails to materialize for their selfish gain.[5] Ethiopia has had a significant presence in Somalia since the pre-colonial era due to their collaboration with the colonial superpowers. Ethiopia, being a landlocked country, would benefit primarily from a disintegrated Somaliland that could allow it access to the coast. Ethiopia's trade interaction with European and Asian trading partners has little to help the situation. The Cairo and Arta conferences are good examples of how foreign meddling has played a part in prolonging the conflict.[6] The Ethiopians had a hand in convincing General Aden Abdullahi Noor and Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf to reject the peace treaty signed in Cairo.


Effect of the Cold War

           During the independence struggle, the USSR played a major role in supplying the Somali militia with weaponry to resist the British, Italian and French forces. There were two centers of power on the global stage, and the British and the French had sided with the United States. This provided the USSR with a good opportunity to destabilize the offshore interests of Allied forces countries. It provided military aid and training to its forces, which were fighting against the Ethiopians for the control of Northern Somali. The US saw an opportunity to retaliate on the USSR influence by deciding to offer Ethiopia advanced military support. The Ethiopia-US and Somali-USSR relationships during the Cold War were perfect examples of pawn states used in this conflict.[7] The Somalis, who now had adequate military support from the US and USSR, invaded Somali-occupied Ethiopian territories, triggering the 1977 war. The US had vested interests in the conflict. It over -equipped the Somalis with weaponry while forgetting that the people also needed food and
shelter.

MAXAMUD JIGRE ADAN. “Somalia VS Ethiopia war 1977”. Filmed [May 2010]. YouTube video, 04:37. Posted [May 2010]https://www.youtube.com/watch=zexThNmXyEI

           Therefore, the Somalis concentrated on the war, leading to the abandonment of other economic viable activities.[8] This led to further pressure on the limited resources. Somalia was later included in the Soviet’s communist plan, which was strengthened by Siad Barre’s coup that turned Somalia from a democratic state into a socialist state.[9] 


The fact that this region was strategically located to the southern end of the Red Sea, just across the Arab Peninsula where there were major oil fields served these two powers well in terms of controlling global politics and the sea routes, projecting power and providing advanced military aid to Middle East countries.[10] The US used this avenue to stabilize pro-Western powers in the Middle East, ensure economic stability and security of Western governments and ensure limited interference to the oil lanes by the Soviet powers. The US efforts of keeping the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean open for Israeli shipping were counter actions against a USSR side that had envisioned permanent post-colonial inclusion of this region in its communism camp.[11]

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, global polarization reduced. The US dropped any real interest in Somali, allowing the locals to remain with the advanced arms and military knowledge. Several clans formed militia group that fought other clans as well as the military regime of Siad Barre. After the US officially suspended its financial and military aid, major vulnerabilities in the government and the nation in general surfaced. A report after the war showed that most Somalia households had more US-made weapons than food.[12]

In conclusion, by taking into consideration the above explanations, it is clear that the rivalries between the European powers played a major role in the Somali unrest for years. The European forces were able to manipulate neighboring African governments such as Kenya and Ethiopia to contribute to the region’s unrest.

Kai Brown. “HIWD Final Presentation”. Filmed [March 2017]. YouTube video, 09:01. Posted [March 2017]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPx-D8VjAIM&feature=youtu.be.







                                                                      Bibliography



Cassanelli, Lee. "The opportunistic economies of the Kenya-Somali borderland in historical perspective." Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa (2010): 133-150.

Doornbos, Martin, Lionel Cliffe, Abdel Ghaffar M. Ahmed, and John Markakis. "Beyond conflict in the Horn: Prospects for peace, recovery and development in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan." (1992).

Durch, William J., and Barry M. Blechman. Keeping the Peace: The United Nations in the Emerging World Order. The Henry L. Stimson Center, 1992.

Gale Group. History behind the headlines: the origins of conflicts worldwide. Vol. 6. Gale Group, 2003.

King, Gerbian, and Vanessa Lawrence. "Africa, a continent in crisis: The economic and social implications of civil war and unrest among African nations." (2005).

Little, Peter D. Somalia: Economy without state. Indiana University Press, 2003.

Marchal, Roland. "Islamic political dynamics in the Somali civil war." Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in gender relations and political reform 331 (2013).

Moore, Patrick S., Anthony A. Marfin, Lynn E. Quenemoen, Bradford D. Gessner, Daniel S. Miller, Michael J. Toole, Y. S. Ayub, and Kevin M. Sullivan. "Mortality rates in displaced and resident populations of central Somalia during 1992 famine." The Lancet 341, no. 8850 (1993): 935-938.

Razack, Sherene. Dark threats and white knights: The Somalia affair, peacekeeping, and the new imperialism. University of Toronto Press, 2004.



[1] Baier, Erica, I. A. Adel, and Water Scarcity. "Hope in Somalia, One Drop at A Time."

[2] Besteman, Catherine, and Lee V. Cassanelli. "Struggle for land in Southern Somalia; The war behind the war." (2000).
[3] King, Gerbian, and Vanessa Lawrence. "Africa, a continent in crisis: The economic and social implications of civil war and unrest among African nations." (2005).

[4] Moore, Patrick S., Anthony A. Marfin, Lynn E. Quenemoen, Bradford D. Gessner, Daniel S. Miller, Michael J. Toole, Y. S. Ayub, and Kevin M. Sullivan. "Mortality rates in displaced and resident populations of central Somalia during 1992 famine." The Lancet 341, no. 8850 (1993): 935-938.
[5] Cassanelli, Lee. "The opportunistic economies of the Kenya-Somali borderland in historical perspective." Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa (2010): 133-150.
[6] Razack, Sherene. Dark threats and white knights: The Somalia affair, peacekeeping, and the new imperialism. University of Toronto Press, 2004.

[7] Marchal, Roland. "Islamic political dynamics in the Somali civil war." Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in gender relations and political reform 331 (2013).
[8] Durch, William J., and Barry M. Blechman. Keeping the Peace: The United Nations in the Emerging World Order. The Henry L. Stimson Center, 1992.
[9] Marchal, Roland. "Islamic political dynamics in the Somali civil war." Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in gender relations and political reform 331 (2013).
[10] Gale Group. History behind the headlines: the origins of conflicts worldwide. Vol. 6. Gale Group, 2003.

[11] Doornbos, Martin, Lionel Cliffe, Abdel Ghaffar M. Ahmed, and John Markakis. "Beyond conflict in the Horn: Prospects for peace, recovery and development in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan." (1992).
[12] Little, Peter D. Somalia: Economy without state. Indiana University Press, 2003.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Somali Boundaries




Somalia instructs that early provincial maps not lay out a steady reason for nationhood in Africa. Be that as it may, no alternatives presents itself. The pilgrim administrations set up limits that at any rate permitted the beginnings of boundary control despite the fact that practically speaking, European rulers never endeavored to practice such control to the full degree that was requested by ensuing African national tribal leaders. Africans have now and then attempted to go past their national model to make local monetary groups on the model of Western Europe will little to no avail.[1]
http://hornaffairs.com/en/2014/09/22/icj-to-start-hearing-of-somalia-kenya-maritime-border-dispute/
June 26, 1960 revealed a petition when Somaliland turned into a free, sovereign state, known as the State of Somaliland. Five days after autonomy, on July 1,1960, Somaliland joined with Somalia with the point of making a more noteworthy Somalia uniting the general population of ethnic Somali roots of five nations in the Horn of Africa: Northern Kenya, Italian Somalia, French Somaliland and Eastern Ethiopia. However, the status of treaty and agreements of bargain of a union to be united by both Somaliland and Somalia were not finished appropriately.[2]
Representatives of Somaliland and Somalia agreed that an Act of Union will be signed by both states on independence and that this document will be in the nature of an international agreement between the two states. The Legislative Assembly of the independent State of Somaliland therefore signed the Union of Somaliland and Somalia Law on June 27, 1960.  The Law was immediately effective in Somaliland, but as set out in the recital, it was supposed to be signed by the representatives of Somalia, as well. In fact, this never happened.[3] The morning of July 1, 1960, the members of the Somaliland Legislative and those of the Somalia Legislative met in a joint session and the Constitution which was drafted in Somalia was accepted on the basis of an acclamation, with no discussion, and a Provisional President was elected.
On May 18, 1991, the assorted Somaliland communal groups met at a Grand Conference and chose to re-attest Somaliland's power and freedom. Pioneers of the Somalia National Movement and elder citizens of northern Somaliland families met at the 'Grand Conference of the Northern Peoples' in Burao. The Union with Somalia was renounced, and the region of the State of Somaliland turned into the Republic of Somaliland.[4] Somalilanders are still counting the cost of that precipitate decision. But the issue is that the way the legal formalities of this voluntary union were dealt with and how the Constitution was drafted for Somalia with disregard for and Somaliland.[5]
Barre
As Somalia embarks decades of statelessness, an era has grown up to know a nation filled with the savage clash and political turmoil. Many young Somali men who immigrated to neighboring countries backpedal to Somalia to battle nearby extremist factions; the position of youth inside the Somali diaspora became entangled between their host and nations of origin. This has gone under serious examination by Western policymakers. Issues that move young Somalis to join factions assigned as fear based oppressors by Western governments are perplexing.[6] Identifying with character arrangement, different generational perspectives, and how different generations draw in with the country, an expanding number of Somalis opposed the administration of Mohamed Siyad Barre. Barre, leader of Somalia who held tyrannical rule over the nation from October 1969, drove a bloodless military upset against the chosen government, until January 1991, when he was toppled in a civil war. He later became a political outcast in neighboring nation.[7] With the unsteadiness of general government, Somalia's younger generations confront interminable unemployment, family strife, and warlordism bringing about an absence of prospects. Consideration is currently swinging more to the subject of why individuals swing to piracy to sustain and what should be possible to give as an equivalent means to survive.








Sunday, February 26, 2017

Somali Mission History


Ministers in Africa started after the Portuguese sailors gradually found and set up settlements along the western shoreline of Africa. The first evangelists were a gathering of the Franciscan monks known as Capuchins. It is assessed that this gathering sanctified through water an expected six hundred thousand Africans. A significant part of the eastern shoreline of Africa, however, was prospering with teacher work. There were an expected twenty mission stations in the field. The Africans trusted that by tolerating Christianity that they would likewise be acknowledged into the Portuguese provincial control, however regularly the Africans were the ones attempting to make the Portuguese and the preachers get along.1



Islam entered the Somali coast in the years that followed the hijra; “the Prophet Muhammad’s migration (622 ce) from Mecca to Medina in order to escape persecution. The date represents the starting point of the Muslim era.”2 The principal agents of Islamization were Arab immigrants, scholars and traders, and later, indigenous teachers. As in Ethiopia, its expansion led to the emergence of small coastal city-states, such as Zeila and Mogadishu. However, the carriers of the new faith preached and lived among predominantly nomadic communities and within a society in which clan or tribal leaders controlled the scarce resources of vast expanses of territory.3 Christianity is a minority religion in Muslim Somalia. The official number of those practicing Christianity is just around 1,000 among the nation's aggregate populace of more than eight million occupants. The genuine number of Christian professionals in Somalia is obscure because of the marvel of Crypto-Christianity among ethnic Somali Muslim believers to Christianity. The genuine name of the private section of Somali Christian specialists, notwithstanding, is obscure. These are crypto-Christians of Somali Muslim backgrounds who have changed over to Christianity clandestinely. Religious abuse of these unofficial Christians has been predominant in Nairobi. Underground Somali holy places can't worship transparently as leaving Islam is a wrongdoing deserving of death in Somalia.



Sean Devereux
Sean Devereux was an English Salesian preacher killed in Kismayo, Somalia in 1993 while working for UNICEF. He has since turned into an outstanding good example for the guide working employment, especially among Christians. Prior to his death, He then started working with UNICEF in Somalia where he was doled out to arrange help for the starving, especially kids, in Kismayo, the fortification of one of the numerous warlords. After just four months in the nation, Devereux was lethally shot in the back of the head by a single employed shooter while strolling close to the UNICEF compound on Saturday, 2 January 1993.4 Italian Catholic nun Sister Leonella Sgorbati, Somalia's Mother Teresa, who had lived in Somalia for forty years, giving medical aid to the poor. In 2006, she was shot in the back outside a Somalia hospital. In 2014, near the capital city of Mogadishu, Abdishakur Yusuf, the leader of five underground Protestant congregations, was shot in the head five times by extremists.5








2. Britannica Academic, s.v. "Hijrah," Accessed February 26, 2017, http://academic.eb.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Hijrah/39809.



3. Ahmed, Hussein. "Reflections on Historical and Contemporary Islam in Ethiopia and Somalia: A Comparative and Contrastive Overview." Journal of Ethiopian Studies 40, no. 1/2 (2007): 261-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41988230.






            5. Shea, Nina. "BARBARISM 2014: On Religious Cleansing by Islamists." World                         Affairs 177, no. 4 (2014): 34-46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43556669.




Friday, February 17, 2017

Somali Contacts




The Somali area was possessed by the most punctual known pastoralists of Upper East Africa, The significance of this district is to a large degree because of its field at the heart of antiquated long-remove exchange systems, making it a common junction. Its exchange products, frankincense, and myrrh were connected to sanctuaries of numerous antiquated civic establishments. Including Ancient Egypt, which appears to impart multiple affinities to the district, semantically and culturally. [1] This human advancement delighted in an exchanging association with old Egypt and Mycenaean Greece since the second thousand years BCE, supporting the theory that Somalia or adjoining areas were the areas of the old Land of Punt. [2] When Alexander the Great vanquished the Persians, he picked up control over Egypt. In 332 B.C.E., he established the city of Alexandria, which had a twofold harbour. Fragments of agreements uncover the offer of merchandise from Punt (exhibit day Somalia).[3] The Puntites exchanged myrrh, spices, gold, midnight, short-horned dairy cattle, ivory and frankincense with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their business ports.[4]


https://www.britannica.com/place/eastern-Africa







http://www.dw.com/en/130-years-ago-carving-up-africa-in-berlin/a-18278894

Amid the middle Ages, a few capable Somali domains commanded the local exchange, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. In the late nineteenth century, through a progression of bargains with these kingdoms, the British and Italian domains picked up control of parts of the drift and built up the settlements of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. [5] Along with France, the three European forces practiced provincial govern in Somalia from 1900 to 1960. The association between European provincial govern and the standing emergency of the postcolonial state in Africa is a hot subject of level headed discussion among researchers, lawmakers, and other intrigue bunches. The individuals who connect expansionism with the present emergency in Africa have made the contention that Somalia is currently in shambles as a result of its difficult experience under the different European supreme forces. In the late nineteenth century, amid the Berlin African colonization gathering of 1884– 1885. The dominant forces drafted their principles of engagement, cut out African grounds, and doled out them names that suited their royal interests.[6]European forces started the Scramble for Africa, which motivated the Dervish pioneer Mohammed Abdullah Hassan to rally bolster from over the Horn of Africa and start one of the longest provincial resistance wars ever. Hassan stressed that the British "have annihilated our religion and made our kids their youngsters" and that the Christian Ethiopians allied with the British were twisted after ravaging the political and religious opportunity of the Somali nation. [7]






______________________________________

1.      Mire, Sada. Mapping the archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, art, script, time, urbanism, trade and empire. African Archaeological Review 32, 2015. (1): 114. http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs10437-015-9184-9





3.      Northrup, Cynthia Clark. "Harbors". In Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present, edited by Cynthia Clark Northrup. London: Routledge, 2013. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com/content/entry/sharpewt/harbors/0






6.      Njoku, Raphael Chijioke. The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations Ser.: The History of Somalia. Westport, US: Greenwood, 2013. Accessed February 17, 2017. ProQuest ebrary. 77http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=10666611#


Friday, February 10, 2017

Somali Trade and Natural Resources


Somalia's old past in exchange started with its commitment to The Silk Road or Silk Route. An old system of exchange courses that were for a considerable length of time integral to social association through areas of the Asian mainland interfacing the East and West from China to the Mediterranean Sea (207 BCE – 220 CE). Assuming a unique part in the improvement of the developments in Asia, India, China, Europe and the Horn of Africa, its most exceptional commitment is ostensibly was the trading of culture. Somalia was viewed as a noteworthy exchange accomplice amid the era. Frankincense, aloes, and myrrh were the significant fares; accepting electrical discharges brocade, finish product and porcelain.


As talked about before in this blog, Somalia's military history and strife have taken an enormous toll on its exchange history and endeavors. In the course of the last two rough many years of Somalia's history, the generation and transfer of three natural assets vital to what stays of the nation's economy have assumed crucial parts in financing the Somali clash. Benefits accessible from bananas, charcoal, and fisheries made another sort of war economy in which exchange members had more enthusiasm for keeping up the contention and keeping on picking up from it than in seeking after peace. Since the fall of the local government in 1991 and a formal managing an accounting framework, improvement outside the legislative center city of Mogadishu has been constrained. Here you will discover general stores, petroleum stations, and inns. Presently, Somalia keeps up a casual economy to a great extent in light of animals, settlement/cash exchange organizations, and broadcast communications.

Somali militiaman in Mogadishu market




Somali Fisherman
Farming comprises of sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sugarcane, mangoes, sesame seeds, beans, dairy cattle, sheep, and goats. In 2014 Somalia traded $266M, making it the 173rd biggest exporter on the planet. The latest fares are driven by Sheep and Goats which speak to 35.6% of the aggregate fares of Somalia, trailed by Other Oily Seeds, which represent 28.4%.1


Somali Livestock


Total national output or Gross Domestic Output (GDP) measures the national pay and yield for a given nation's economy and is equivalent to the aggregate uses for every single last great and administration delivered inside the country in a stipulated timeframe. The GDP estimation of Somalia speaks to 0.01 percent of the world economy. Somalia arrived at the midpoint of 1.22 USD Billion from 1960 until 2015, achieving an unprecedented high of 5.95 USD Billion in 2015 and a record low of 0.18 USD Billion in 1960.2





CITATIONS





BIBLIOGRAPHY



Webersik, Christian, and Alec Crawford. 2012. "Commerce in the Chaos: Bananas, Charcoal, Fisheries, and Conflict in Somalia." Environmental Law Reporter: News & Analysis 42, no. 6: 10534-10545. Environment Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=ab98c05b-84c1-4ff3-a184-3f1fca1809af%40sessionmgr4007&vid=0&hid=4106&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=77935479&db=eih