Somaliland War of Independence

Somaliland War of Independence
Part of the Somali Civil War, the Cold War and the conflicts in the Horn of Africa
Clockwise from top: Military situation during the Somaliland War of Independence, SNM recruits training for combat in Aware, Ethiopia; SNM Fighters in the Haud; Hargeisa in ruins after airstrikes; Hargeisa War Memorial
Date6 April 1981 (1981-04-06) – 18 May 1991 (1991-05-18)
(10 years, 1 months, and 12 days)
Location
Somaliland
Result

SNM victory

Territorial
changes		 Somaliland regains independence
Belligerents

Somalia Somalia

SNM
Supported by:
Ethiopia[7][8]
Commanders and leaders
Siad Barre
Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan
Muhammad Ali Samatar
Mohamed Hashi Gani
Yusuf Abdi Ali "Tukeh"

Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid
Sheikh Yusuf Ali Sheikh Madar
Abdirahman Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud
Mohamed Hasan Abdullahi (Jidhif)
Abdilahi Husein Iman Darawal
Mohamed Farah Dalmar Yusuf
Mohamed Hashi Lihle †
Muse Bihi Abdi
Mohamed Kahin Ahmed
Abdiqadir Kosar Abdi
Ibrahim Koodbuur
Abdullahi Askar
Ibrahim Dhagahweyne[9]

Hassan Yonis Habane
Strength
60,000 (1987)[10]
Numerous South African and Rhodesian mercenaries[11]		 3,000–4,000 (1982–1988)
50,000–70,000 civilians (1991)[12]
Casualties and losses
Heavy Heavy
50,000–100,000 due to the Isaaq Genocide[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][excessive citations]
High estimates range between 100,000–200,000[21][22][23][24][25][26][excessive citations]
Displaced:
500,000 refugees[27][28]
400,000 internally displaced[29][30][31]

The Somaliland War of Independence[32][33] (Somali: Dagaalkii Xoraynta Soomaaliland, lit. 'Somaliland Liberation War') was a rebellion waged by the Somali National Movement (SNM) against the ruling military junta in Somalia led by General Siad Barre lasting from its founding on 6 April 1981 and ended on 18 May 1991 when the SNM declared what was then northern Somalia independent as the Republic of Somaliland. The conflict served as the main theater of the larger Somali Rebellion that started in 1978. The conflict was in response to the harsh policies enacted by the Barre regime against the main clan family in Somaliland, the Isaaq, including a declaration of economic warfare on the clan-family.[34] These harsh policies were put into effect shortly after the conclusion of the disastrous Ogaden War in 1978.

As a direct response to the harsh policies enacted by the Barre regime against the Isaaq people,[35] in April 1981 a group of Isaaq businesspeople, students, former civil servants and former politicians founded the Somali National Movement in London.[36] From February 1982, Isaaq army officers and fighters started moving into Ethiopia where they formed the nucleus of what would later become the armed wing of the SNM.[37] Throughout the early to mid 1980s SNM launched a guerrilla war against the Barre regime through incursions and hit and run operations on army positions within Isaaq territories, especially into the Waqooyi Galbeed and Togdheer regions.[38]

After the conclusion of a peace deal between Somalia's military junta and Ethiopia in April 1988[39] the SNM launched a major offensive in late May 1988, overrunning the cities of Hargeisa and Burao,[40][41][42] then the second and third largest cities of Somalia.[43][44] During the ongoing conflict, the Somali government's genocidal campaign against the Isaaq took place between May 1988 and March 1989, with explicit aims of handling the "Isaaq problem", Barre ordered the shelling and aerial bombardment of the major cities in the northwest and the systematic destruction of Isaaq dwellings, settlements and water points.[45] The Siad Barre regime targeted civilian members of the Isaaq group specifically,[23] especially in the cities of Hargeisa and Burao and to that end employed the use of indiscriminate artillery shelling and aerial bombardment against civilian populations belonging to the Isaaq clan.[46][47][48]

By early 1990, the Barre regime had lost control of large parts of the northern regions, and by its collapse in January 1991, the SNM succeeded in taking full control of northwestern Somalia including Hargeisa and other regional capitals,[49][50] after which the organisation quickly opted for a cessation of hostilities and reconciliation with non-Isaaq communities,[51] culminating in the "Grand Conference of the Northern Clans" in Burao between 27 April and 18 May 1991 and the subsequent formation of the Republic of Somaliland.[52]

  1. ^ A, Nelson, Elizabeth (14 September 2021). Regional Politics and State Secession. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-83910-377-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Gurdon, Charles (1996). "The Horn of Africa". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 59 (1): 63. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0002927X. ISSN 1474-0699.
  3. ^ Ingiriis, Mohamed (1 April 2016). The Suicidal State in Somalia: The Rise and Fall of the Siad Barre Regime, 1969–1991. United States: University Press of America. pp. 147–150. ISBN 978-0-7618-6719-7 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Einashe, Ismail (22 October 2018). "In the Valley of Death: Somaliland's Forgotten Genocide". The Nation.
  5. ^ a b c Copson, Raymond W. (1994). Africa's Wars and Prospects for Peace. M. E. Sharpe. pp. 139–141. ISBN 9781563243004.
  6. ^ a b Metz, Country Studies, 1993, 213-214
  7. ^ Cohen, Robin (2 November 1995). The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44405-7. in return for depriving the snm of its.
  8. ^ Cordesman, Anthony H. (6 October 2016). After The Storm: The Changing Military Balance in the Middle East. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-4742-9257-3.
  9. ^ "Afar arrimood oo lagu xusuusto Dowladdii Kacaankii Siyaad Bare" [Four things to remember about the revolutionary government of Siad Bare]. BBC. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Military Intelligence Summary, Vol IV, Part III, Africa South of the Sahara". Defense Intelligence Agency. November 1987. p. 12.
  11. ^ Small Arms in Somaliland: Their Role and Diffusion (PDF). Berlin: Berlin Information-center for Transatlantic Security (BITS). 1999.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :34 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Peifer, Douglas C. (1 May 2009). Stopping Mass Killings in Africa: Genocide, Airpower, and Intervention. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4379-1281-4.
  14. ^ Totten, Samuel; Parsons, William S. (1 January 1995). Genocide in the Twentieth Century: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. Garland Pub. ISBN 978-0-8153-0309-1.
  15. ^ Cohen, Robin (2 November 1995). The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44405-7. at a conservative estimate between 50,000 and 60,000.
  16. ^ Straus, Scott (24 March 2015). Making and Unmaking Nations: The Origins and Dynamics of Genocide in Contemporary Africa. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5567-4.
  17. ^ Gilbert, Jérémie (26 March 2014). Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-02016-2.
  18. ^ Nafziger (2002), War Hunger and Displacement, p.191, Oxford University Press
  19. ^ Geldenhuys (2009), Contested States in World Politics, Palgrave Macmillan
  20. ^ Jill, Rutter (1 June 2006). Refugee Children in the Uk. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). ISBN 978-0-335-21373-3.
  21. ^ Jones, Adam (22 January 2017). Genocide, war crimes and the West: history and complicity. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1-84277-191-4.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Culture was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ a b Reinl, James. "Investigating genocide in Somaliland". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  24. ^ Frushone, Joel (1 January 2001). Welcome Home to Nothing: Refugees Repatriate to a Forgotten Somaliland. U.S. Committee for Refugees. ISBN 978-0-936548-12-8.
  25. ^ Dumper, Michael; Stanleyc, Bruce E. (1 January 2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-919-5.
  26. ^ "SOMALIA 1988–1989". Combat Genocide.
  27. ^ Harper, Mary (9 February 2012). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78032-105-9.
  28. ^ Press, Robert M. (1 January 1999). The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1704-4.
  29. ^ Gajraj, Priya (2005). Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics (PDF). World Bank. p. 10.
  30. ^ Law, Ian (1 January 2010). Racism and Ethnicity: Global Debates, Dilemmas, Directions. Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-5912-7.
  31. ^ "Africa Watch". Volume 5: 4. 1993.
  32. ^ Frushone, Joel (2001). Welcome home to nothing : refugees repatriate to a forgotten Somaliland. U.S. Committee for Refugees. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Committee for Refugees. p. 6. ISBN 0-936548-12-6. OCLC 49766722.
  33. ^ Balthasar, Dominik (26 July 2017). "State-making at Gunpoint: The Role of Violent Conflict in Somaliland's March to Statehood". Civil Wars. 19: 65–86. doi:10.1080/13698249.2017.1343411. ISSN 1369-8249. S2CID 149160219.
  34. ^ Kapteijns, Lidwien (18 December 2012). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0758-3.
  35. ^ Richards, Rebecca (24 February 2016). Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. Routledge. ISBN 9781317004653.
  36. ^ Richards, Rebecca (24 February 2016). Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. Routledge. ISBN 9781317004660.
  37. ^ Africa, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on (1 January 1989). Reported Massacres and Indiscriminate Killings in Somalia: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, July 14, 1988. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  38. ^ Division, Library of Congress (Wash ) Federal Research; Division, Library of Congress Federal Research (1993). Somalia: A Country Study. The Division. ISBN 978-0-8444-0775-3.
  39. ^ Compagnon, Daniel (22 October 2013). "State-sponsored violence and conflict under Mahamed Siyad Barre: the emergence of path dependent patterns of violence". Reinventing Peace. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  40. ^ Mburu, Chris (2002). Past Human Rights Abuses in Somalia: Report of a Preliminary Study Conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia). p. 12.
  41. ^ Waller, David (1993). Rwanda: which way now?. Oxford: Oxfam. pp. 10–12. ISBN 0-85598-217-9. OCLC 29513928.
  42. ^ Somalia: a government at war with its own people: testimonies about the killings and the conflict in the north. Africa Watch Committee. New York, NY: Africa Watch Committee. 1990. p. 128. ISBN 0-929692-33-0. OCLC 24108168.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  43. ^ Binet, Laurence (3 October 2013). Somalia 1991-1993: Civil War, Famine Alert and a UN "Military-Humanitarian" Intervention. Médecins Sans Frontières. p. 214.
  44. ^ Tekle, Amare (1 January 1994). Eritrea and Ethiopia: From Conflict to Cooperation. The Red Sea Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-932415-97-4.
  45. ^ Richards, Rebecca (24 February 2016). Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-00466-0.
  46. ^ Strategic Survey, 1989–1990 (1990), p. 87, International Institute for Strategic Studies
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  48. ^ Geldenhuys, p.131
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  52. ^ Prunier, Gérard (1 April 2000). "Somalia re-invents itself". Le Monde diplomatique. Retrieved 8 September 2020.