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Somali Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Somali
Official Name: Somali Democratic Republic
Capital: Mogadishu
Area: 637,660 square kilometres (246,202 square miles)
Major cities (Population): Mogadishu 982,000 (1995 estimate)
Hargeisa 43,627 (1990)
Population: 9,250,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 1.3 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government : Anarchy; the nation has been threatened for years by civil strife and has been torn by a bloody power struggle between clans since 1991.
Independence: 1 July 1960 (The Somali Republic was formed by the merger of British Somaliland, which became independent from the United Kingdom on 26 June 1960, and Italian Somaliland, which became independent from the Italian-administered United Nations (UN) trusteeship on 1 July 1960.)
Constitution: The lack of unified government has meant that no constitution is in effect.
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
There is no centralized government in Somalia, and the country is presently separated into control zones by opposing warlords. However, traditional political structures based on clan affiliation have always existed in Somalia and remain important. In the north, authority is customarily exercised by a shir, which is a type of governing council formed by different clan groups. All members of the shir are considered to be equal, although there is often an elected sultaan (leader). Decisions are made by consensus. The shir can declare war or peace, and make policy for all participating groups. Shifting alliances mean that a shir cannot be considered a permanent authority. Political groupings, such as the United Somali Congress (USC), are examples of a modified shir. Disputes between different families are often solved through informal arbitration panels set up by the shir, through dialogue, or by war.
Among southern clans, a few village wise men (traditional leaders called suldhan, ogaas, or garaad) are usually the leaders. This lends some permanence to governing bodies, but politics are far from institutionalized. While these traditional local organizations have changed over time, they reflect the conventional wisdom that opposes central authority (especially if dominated by another clan) and national government.
Recent History
It was not until 1960 that independence was finally achieved, when Italian Somaliland (by then renamed Somalia) and British Somaliland merged as the United Republic of Somalia. Ethnic tensions soon surfaced. In 1964 war broke out with Ethiopia (where many ethnic Somalis lived), and nearly ten years of democratic but unstable rule came to an end in 1969, when General Mohammed Siad Barre seized power. He suspended the constitution and parliament, outlawed opposition political groups, adopted a policy of “scientific socialism”, allied the country with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and sought to reduce the influence of the clan system by officially outlawing clan loyalties.
In 1977 Somalia broke off relations with the USSR because of its support for the Marxist regime in Ethiopia, on which Somalia then declared war. Cold War politics brought aid from the United States, but in 1978 the Somali army was defeated. Unrest grew in Somalia, which by then possessed a large arsenal of Soviet and US weapons and ammunition. These weapons were soon in the hands of rival groups and, in 1981, the Isaak clan—objecting to the resettlement assistance being given to Somali refugees from Ethiopia—launched a guerrilla war against the government. Fighting spread as other clans declared war on the government. By 1988 a full-scale civil war was raging. In August 1990 the three principal groups—the United Somali Congress (USC), the Somali National Movement (SNM), and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM)—agreed to coordinate their military campaigns. The government responded by indicating a readiness to speed up political reform, but, by then, the opposition forces were no longer willing to negotiate. In January 1991 Siad Barre fled the country. The USC appointed Mohammed Ali Mahdi—a member of a Hawiye sub-clan (called the Abgal)—president but other groups objected. The USC invited rival ethnic groups to participate in a national conference to determine the future government, but they refused. Fighting broke out between rival groups and Somalia descended into anarchy again. In May 1991 the Isaaks, represented by the SNM, declared an independent Republic of Somaliland in the north. In October 1991 the USC split, with General Mohammed Farah Aidid—also a member of a Hawiye clan (called the Habir Gidir)— and the Somali National Alliance (SNA) opposing Ali Mahdi. Mogadishu became a battleground between the two factions.
Although fighting abated in the north, it intensified in the south. In December 1992 United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces, led by US troops, moved into areas of Somalia in an effort to provide protection for members of international relief agencies, who were attempting to supply food and other humanitarian aid to the people suffering the effects of widespread famine. The last UN troops were withdrawn in March 1995. The operation had cost the lives of several UN troops and a number of foreign relief workers. A peace agreement between the two main warring factions was signed in March 1994 and another followed in the south in June. Some reconstruction work began, though sporadic fighting continued.
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