Somalia, history and context

The flag of Somalia, blue with a five-pointed star, represents the nationalist aspiration to unite five Somali regions under a single state: former Italian Somalia, former British Somalia (united in 1960 in the Somali Republic), French Somalia, the Ogaden in Ethiopia, and the northeastern district of Kenya.

Geographically located in the far east of Africa, in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is inhabited by the Somali people, ethnically and culturally homogeneous and belonging to the Cushitic group, mostly Muslim with a Christian minority; the prevalence of pastoral nomadism among the population makes integration into a centralized state complex.

Somali society is divided into two large national groups: the Samale and the Sab, organized into clans and patriarchal families.

The language, part of the Cushitic branch, has several dialectal variants. Other languages such as Arabic, English, and Italian are used in trade and international relations. The Somali Republic was founded on July 1, 1960 from the union of Somaliland and Italian Somalia.

Historically a crucial trade hub between Africa and Asia, Somalia, Islamized in the 7th century, has experienced various dominations, including that of the Christian kingdom of Shoa in 1415, the formation of the kingdom of Adel, the Ottoman advance, and the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century, whose influence, however, declined in the 1700.

In the 19th century, notably post-opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Somalia became the object of European colonial interest, with Britain, France, and Italy establishing colonies in the region; in 1839 Britain took control of the Gulf of Aden and in 1887 established the British Somaliland protectorate.

Italy and Somalia

The first contacts of our country with that distant land date back to 1889 when the Sultan of Zanzibar sold his rights over the southern coastal part of Somalia to the Italians. In 1891 our country agreed with England on the division of their respective spheres of influence in East Africa, marking the Juba River as the southern limit of the Italian zone.

Somalia became an Italian colony in 1904, when the Italian government decided to take direct responsibility for the Benadir colony (which was named Somalia) until then in the hands of a private Italian trading company that controlled the customs of five Somali coastal ports.
Meanwhile, the Italian colony of Benadir, roughly situated between the Uebi Shebeli and Juba rivers, began to gain significant consistency and by 1912 extended to the settlements of Dabo and Mohaddei.

It should also be noted that in 1908 an agreement was signed with Ethiopia regarding the northern borders. After the events of World War I, Italy reorganized the administration of the African territory, resumed the full-scale economic development of the colony, and founded the districts of Giohar and Genale.

However, the Italian presence was not without resistance; already at the end of the nineteenth century, a Somali leader of great influence named Mohammed Abdallah Ibu Hassan, better known by the nickname Mad Mullah, proclaimed the Holy War in Burao against all invaders. He had many followers, the famous “dervishes”, but the rebellion movement.

He conducted a bloody guerrilla war, keeping the various armies present in the area (French, British, Ethiopian, and Italian) in check. It is the Bima revolt (named after the main Somali tribe involved) that was harshly repressed, using troops composed of askaris. After mixed fortunes, the internal turmoil ceased in 1920 with his death.

Italy extended its control inland, within the framework of the London Treaty of 1915 and other agreements following World War I. In the 1930s, relations with neighboring Ethiopia increasingly deteriorated until the war against the Negus, which led, in 1936, to the annexation of the country to Italian East Africa.

In 1940 the territories were involved in the events of World War II during which many Somalis fought generously and heroically died for Italy. With the war lost, the former colonies were occupied by the British who administered them from 1941 to 1947. In 1919 the UN decided to entrust Italy with the trusteeship mandate over Somalia for ten years to promote its independence.

When the new fascist governor, Cesare De Vecchi, arrived in Somalia in 1923, only the southern third of this colony was directly controlled by Rome, while the northern sultanates were subject to a protectorate lacking any concrete authority. In the years 1925-27 the governor conducted a series of costly campaigns to bring the North to obedience. Mussolini himself recognized the authoritarian methods accompanied by cruel and gratuitous massacres.

In 1929, following the example of Libya, it was decided that where the land was not actively cultivated, the government had the right to assign it to Italian settlers. The few indigenous Eritrean and Somali landowners were expropriated and compensated with small sums of money. In reality, a significant percentage of the most easily and profitably cultivable lands was seized.

Thanks to the establishment in 1935 of the banana monopoly, under which only Somali bananas could be sold in Italy, plantations were developed where labor was forcibly recruited.

World War II and post-war: the Italian Trusteeship Administration of Somalia begins

When World War II broke out, Somalia was occupied by British troops who, having crossed the Oltregiuba border, entered the capital Mogadishu on February 27, 1941, taking over its administration and establishing the separate territory of Ogaden, which was eventually incorporated into British Somalia.

With the Paris peace treaty of 1947, Italy was forced to renounce its possessions in Africa, and the responsibility for the arrangement of the former colonies was assigned to the so-called "big four" (United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union).

In 1948, not having reached a satisfactory agreement, the "big four" referred the matter back to the United Nations General Assembly, which in November 1949 approved a plan that, based on the results of a referendum among the Somalis, assigned Italy its former colony under trusteeship, A.F.I.S. (Italian Trusteeship Administration of Somalia) for a period of ten years (1950-1960).

The mandate ended early on July 1, 1960, when the country gained independence.

First elections and independence

In 1954, the first administrative elections were held, with suffrage restricted to men only, in 37 municipalities. On July 1, 1960, "Italian" Somalia gained independence by uniting with the former British one and taking the name of the Democratic Republic of Somalia. As such, it became a member of the United Nations in September 1960. In June 1967, Abdar Rasir Ali Shemarke, already head of the independence government, was elected President of the Republic by an absolute majority.

In October of the same year, the African country regulated its diplomatic relations with Kenya and Ethiopia, although many pending territorial issues remained unresolved.

In 1969, the President was assassinated during a military coup, and a new government was formed headed by General Mohammed Siad Barre.

In 1970, Barre declared Somalia a socialist state and in the years following his establishment, he nationalized most of the country's economic activities. During that period, the drought, which lasted throughout 1974 and 1975, caused famine to spread across the Somali territory.

In mid-1977, the Somali ethnic group of the Ethiopian region of Ogaden began fighting for self-determination; supported by Somalia, which also sent its troops as reinforcements, by the end of 1977, it had seized much of the territory.

Ethiopia, supported by Cuba and the USSR, managed to regain control of the region at the beginning of 1978, inflicting heavy losses on the Somali army; it also provided support to Somalia's dissident movements, mainly based in the north of the country.

Following the clashes in Ogaden, about two million refugees sought refuge in Somalia. The United States provided humanitarian and military aid to both contenders in exchange for the use of the Berbera naval base, previously used by the Soviets. Hostilities with Ethiopia continued until the peace treaty signed in 1988.

During the 1980s, the Somali National Movement continued its military campaign against Barre's government, capturing part of the north of the country. By the end of the 1980s, other opposition movements emerged, supported by various ethnic groups.

In 1991, Siad Barre, after years of anti-government guerrilla warfare, was overthrown by the various movements opposing him, but the agreement between the factions that had toppled the dictatorship did not last long, and the country plunged into the anarchy of civil war. Three years of bloody clashes virtually razed Mogadishu to the ground and caused severe damage throughout the country.

The death of hundreds of thousands of people is the price of madness that forced the U.N. to promote the largest humanitarian operation in history.

Goodbye Mogadishu

As mentioned, from a political standpoint, total chaos reigned. The country was a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

For our compatriots, not even the diplomatic headquarters of the Mogadishu Embassy could be considered safe.

There were numerous missions by the 46th Air Brigade, which repeatedly, under the security framework of the 9th Col Moschin raiders, evacuated about 300 people from the country.

In the end, under the pressure of events, even the Embassy, protected until then by a few but brave Tuscania paratrooper carabinieri, had to be abandoned.

On January 12, 1991, the last C-130 hastily filled with compatriots, some standing, some sitting, but all, finally, safe, leaves Mogadishu.

It's a goodbye. See you in two years.

1992, the world wakes up, operation UNOSOM begins

With resolution no. 733 of January 1992, the Security Council requests all member states to establish an embargo on the entry of arms and war material into Somalia.

Finally, the traffic of death slows down, but the measure alone is not enough to stop the fighting.

In March, another resolution, no. 746, urges the UN Secretary-General to quickly provide a detailed report on the situation, recommending, in the meantime, an increase in humanitarian aid activities for the Somali people. The elderly and children, who represent the most vulnerable component of the population, are decimated by the violence of a war that shows no sign of abating.

In April 1992, with resolution no. 751, the United Nations Security Council authorizes operation UNOSOM I (United Nations Operation in Somalia), defining its contours with resolution no. 767 the following July. Television and newspapers worldwide speak of tens of thousands of deaths from hunger and disease.

It's time to do something concrete to stop the massacres, and in August 1992, with resolution no. 775, the mandate is expanded and forces increased. In particular, their task consists of:

• Monitoring the ceasefire in Mogadishu
• Ensuring protection and security for personnel, equipment, and supplies
• Escorting humanitarian convoys forces to be deployed
• 50 military observers
• 3500 security personnel
• 719 logistics support personnel
• 200 civilian staff members from participating nations

The forces are provided by as many as 16 different contributing nations:

Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe

On December 3, with resolution no. 794, the Security Council authorizes a military action throughout Somalia, entrusting it to a group of Member States.

Given the severity of the situation, the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), organized and commanded by the United States, is authorized to use all "necessary means" to establish security conditions for humanitarian assistance operations in Somalia. UNOSOM retains responsibility for supervising the political aspects of the mission and coordinating humanitarian assistance. The designation for the Italian contingent will be operation IBIS.