Somalia is a country which has gone through an extreme time of hunger, violence and distraught. In the early 1990’s Mohammed Siad Barre leader of Somalia was removed forcibly from power by a union of opposing clans called the United Somalia Congress which, their temporary alliance and partnership soon came to an end dividing the United Somalia Congress into two groups. Mohammed Farah Aidid led one of the groups; Ali Mahdi led the other. The Somalia Civil War between clans consequently destroyed Somalia’s agriculture. With little to no food the Somali militias’ Commanders/Leaders retained power of Somalia by taking control over food supplies. Food was seized and exchanged for weapons with other countries. In addition, a numerous percentage …show more content…
Somalia guerillas/militia gained tactical advantages by carefully studying the US strategies such as response of air support time lines along with fighting in their own terrain. They also used irregular warfare to their advantage such as making it highly difficult and impossible for the TFR to identify exactly whom the enemy was due to them “enemy combatants” blending in with the civilian population. At the same time they would vastly recruit throughout the city boys and men on command. Logical Lines of Operation The Somalis destroyed and obstructed roads/paths, or put obstacles making it tremendously difficult for US troops to surpass given the fact that they were poorly prepared for such small ally, suburb terrain. By doing this, they manipulated the US military convoys in such tactics of barricading them. They succeeded by forcing US troops to proceed in a direction where they would be vulnerable be attack by small armed fire. TFR was sent on a mission to capture Aidid. This attempt was failed due to once again lack of intelligence. The U.S. were very well observed, Somalis formed an immediate counter fight gathering hundreds of Aidid followers and forming armed-civilian soldiers who consisted of men, women and children. This was an operation intended to last 90 minutes but in reality lasted 17 hours. Unfortunately, the US troops took a tremendous toll of over 100 casualties. This
Conflicts within the nation of Somalia were sometimes planned as a means to an end. Whereby the United States Government supported a certain regime before they used their power to gain control of the situation and overthrow the tyrant. In other cases the use of national power was used such as the Islamic Courts Union to gain control over Somalia by implementing logical line of operations by providing the people their needs and services to gain their trust. In these situations it would be considered as an irregular warfare environment, because they were violent struggles
Race, class, and gender can impact your power greatly as a person. Men have more power than women, wealthy people have more power than poor people. Lastly, whites have more power than blacks. Whether this information is a known opinion, but not a fact. Mayella Ewell, a poor nineteen year-old white girl from the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, has troubles with her power because of her gender, race, and social class.
Then, United Somalia Congress divide into multiple clans which escalate the turmoil through inter-clan warfare. Such warfare destroyed the economy, and left hundreds of thousands of Somalians to perish of starvation.
The deployment of United States Special Forces to Somalia to apprehend General Aidid was in the interest of the United States, if Nuechterlein's outline of national security interest was anything to go by. Somali had gone through difficult times and there was need to restore normalcy in this Horn of Africa's state. Restoring normalcy would have ensured that stability returned. Moreover, this would have ensured that the instability that had been realized here never spilled over into other Eastern Africa states. Had the United States Special Forces succeeded in apprehending General Aidid, a democratically elected government would have been instituted. This government would have prioritized democratic governance principles that conform to United States Army War College's "Favorable World Order category" (Nuechterlein, 1985). Yes, it was difficult to establish Jeffersonian democracy in Somalia bearing in mind that Somalia was a tribal nation; however, it was something worth giving a short. This could only be made possible by chopping off the head of Aidid's organization and ultimately taking Aidid out of the streets. Under the leadership of Aidid, the United Nations lost at least 24 soldiers of Pakistani origin many of whom were skinned (Bowden, 1997).
Somalis use the word burbur (‘catastrophe’) to describe the period from December 1991 to March 1992, when the country was torn apart by clan-based warfare and factions plundered the remnants of the state and fought for control of rural and urban assets. Four months of fighting in Mogadishu alone in 1991 and 1992 killed an estimated 25,000 people, 1.5 million people fled the country, and at least 2 million were internally displaced.
With the absence of Mohamed Siad Barre, the country had no proper government to run it. Faction groups started forming in Somalia to take control. In 1992, there was killing and starvation in the south of Somalia (Global Security 1). The U.N. sends peacekeeping operations into Somalia. In addition, the United States started sending troops into Somalia. In 1994, there was too much casualties in Somalia, so the U.S. soldiers withdrew from Somalia with the problems still unsolved (Phil Stewart 1). Fishermen started taking advantage of the bad condition Somalia is in and started raiding different fishing ports. The Somalians started to fight back. The Somalians began to raid and became pirates. Some observers say that the Somalians pirates are usually poor folks trying to get their fortune back (Ishaan Tharoor
In August of 1992, President George Bush Sr. sent US soldiers into Somalia to provide humanitarian relief to those Somalis suffering from starvation. The major problems in Somalia started when President Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown by a coalition of opposing clans. Although there were several opposing groups, the prominent one was led by Mohammed Farah Aidid. Following the overthrow of Barre, a massive power struggle ensued. These small scale civil wars led to the destruction of the agriculture in Somalia, which in turn led to the deprivation of food in large parts of the country. When the international community heard of this, large quantities of food were sent to ease Somali suffering. However, clan leaders like Aidid routinely
Somalia must develop a Political Dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG’s) which are known as the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI’s) for reconciliation to
By November of 1992, conditions were getting worse instead of better. Food was still being stolen and sold off to clan leaders while aid workers were threatened and attacked. Americans were stunned at the lawlessness and starvation. Thousands of troops were ordered into Somalia to assist in the aid by President George H. Bush. Now food was getting to the people that it was intended for but distrust for the American soldiers was growing after they often violated Somalis privacy by bursting into their homes and confiscating the weapons that was the Somalis only defense against the opposing clans.6 In March of 1993 the U.S. withdrew most of its troops leaving the security of the people to the UN. By this time anger was growing towards the outsiders and the UN took most of the fallout for that by being attacked regularly. Hostility grew even more when the UN announced that the clan led by Aidid was the one responsible for the lawlessness in Somalia.7 When the UN took sides against the most powerful warlord in Somalia, the attacks against the aid workers was stepped up. 24 Pakistani peace keepers were killed
By African standards, Somalia is a homogenous state made up of a single ethnicity, religion and culture. This led to a relatively peaceful history until Somalia was colonized by the British, French, and Italians in the 19th century. However, Somalia’s single ethnicity is broken into different clans, and sub-clans and this region’s lack of natural resources led to a fracturing of society, violence, and eventually civil war at the end of the 20th century. Despite the deterioration of society and state throughout the 70s and 80s informal black-markets (referred to as the “shadow economy”) formed to provide goods and services to the masses living under a government incapable of providing
The history of Somalia is a bloody one, filled with failed occupation, anarchy and civil war. Early Somalia established itself as a merchant state. Its key geographical location by the natural strait between the Horn of Africa and Yemen made it a focal point for trade.This essay will explore the history of internal struggles of the Somalilands and its many wars. It will investigate the colonial influences and conflicts between Somalia and its imperial occupiers and how these influences set the stage for future conflicts between the clans. Also, it will attempt to define the reasons why Somalia has become a failed state. The importance of United States foreign policies will be discussed as they have
Affirmation of Somaliland is crucial because the encouragement of African action should not become the basis for inaction on the part of the United States. Jendayi Frazer, in her report on “Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership,” states that the United States would recognize Somaliland if the others acted first. But Somaliland deserves recognition from a purely U.S.-centric national security perspective. The United States has always stood to protect the values that it was founded upon. Somaliland, in its entirety fits this impression. The Somaliland government and population embody a moderate voice in the Muslim world that rejects radical interpretations of Islam, including that espoused by the Council of Somali Islamic Courts currently in control. It would serve as a bulwark against the further expansion of radical ideologies in the Horn of Africa by offering a brilliant case of how
As I watch my father from inside, he makes and organizes the wood pallets he had made. As a young child, I have always admired my strong and intelligent father, for starting a business on his own, as well as establishing a name to be known in the city. At ten years old, I began to help around the shop, However, being tiny and weak, I only swept when needed. I was a timid child, only watching the way he handled the task swiftly and efficiently. A minor business waiting to grow, waiting for some major help around. I wanted to become part of a significant process. Make a generous impact that helps improves the process of growing into a satisfactory business. Even as a young timid girl, I wanted to have the sensation of accomplishing something. In the beginning I was struggling with
From a historical perspective, Somalia was a strong and powerful country that enjoyed economic prosperity from trading activities in the region. After years of colonization by Italy and Great Britain, the country was left with an economy in shambles and lacked a political system. After gaining independence in 1960, a democracy was initially established but it was soon dismantled following a series of political maneuvers involving coups and countercoups. Rival war lords and clan factions plunged the country into civil war as they competed for leadership roles in Somalia’s central government.
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” implemented by youth, authorities has limited the right to free speech in schools, in order to “protect” societies generations from reality. However, the limitation of free speech is unjust as it revokes America’s constitutional rights, for with each item we restrict, a piece is worn away from America’s identity. Although it may not seem possible with due time the nation of the United States will transform into the dystopian society children read about in fictional novels. Therefore, the belief to enforce restrictions on the common masses’ voice is to oppress man’s humanity.