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Civil war in Somalia essay
Civil war in Somalia essay
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Preface On December 30th, 1990, the Mogadishu residents waked in quiet, hot and humid morning to embark on their daily routine. The students hurried to schools, stores opened their doors for business, the open market displayed few basic items on their shelves and the bargain hunters roamed pushing one another in the narrow open market lanes. The tea shops along main streets blasted the latest music and served hot and cold drinks. The government employees sat behind their desks and helped only those who could pay for services. By midday, people retreated to their homes for lunch and siesta. Then in late afternoon the first gunshots of the Somali Civil War were fired in the north section of the city near the livestock market.
In the streets fire was rapidly exchanging. The Somali men took advantage of the Americans decency and hid behind women and children. The Somalis moved in groups. The Rangers could not single out the ones with weapons.
During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...
-1990’s: people that live near the ravine and southeast areas of Somalia are descendants of Africans once enslaved by the Somalis
Civil War is another shared similarity between both Somalia and the United States. In 1991, following the overthrow of the dictator, Siad Barre, Somalia descended into anarchy. With no government presence to maintain some type of order, clan-based warlords began competing with each other, thus beginning civil unjust. While northern parts of Somalia, as well as the self-declared “Republic of Somaliland,” have remained somewhat peaceful, internal fighting flares up with little to no warning. Since 1991, it is estimated that 350, 000 to 1,000,000 Somalia’s have died due to the lack...
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 hijacked food and exchanged it for weapons leaving thousands to starve to death. An estimated 300,000 Somalis died between 1991 and 1992 (Clancy 234-236). US soldiers were later sent into Somalia to capture Aidid, but when the operation got bloody, displeasing the American public, Clinton withdrew troops (Battersby 151). In The Morality of War, Brian Orend outlines ethical guidelines that should be followed in all three stages of war: jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum. Orend states that a nation can be moral going into war, but immoral coming out of one. Did the US act justly in all facets of the Somali conflict? The United States espoused all the guiding principles of jus ad bellum but right intent, upheld the principals of jus in bello, and clearly failed to uphold several aspects of jus post bellum during the armed humanitarian intervention in Somalia.
On the month of April in 2004, in the city of Habbaniyah, Iraq, a brutal and terrible act took place which ignited one of the bloodiest battles in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Four Black Water security members were killed and publicly maimed. The resulting battle left a high casualty rate as well as hundreds of American service members being wounded. This is the story of the events that took place after the events in the city of Habbaniyah.
Before the war, Somalia had a well-functioning democratic republic government. Under the 1979 Constitution, the president held executive power. The president was the head and leader of the country’s sole legal political party, The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. Elected to serve a 7-year term, the president was nominated by the party’s central committee. Ever since the civil war in 1991, when the government collapsed, Somalia has been in a state of civil war and anarchy (“Somalian Government”).
In Northern Kenya a small village of Sudanese refugees have made a makeshift village, which has served as their permanent housing for the past twenty years. This village displays the kind of poverty that is predictably featured in Time Magazine on a semi-regular basis: mud walls are adorned by straw roofs, ribs can be easily counted on shirtless bodies, flour is a resource precious enough to be rationed, and a formidable desert can be seen in all directions. What do you see when you look at this village? Do you see a primitive society, struggling to survive in a world that has long made struggling for survival antiquated, do you see the cost of western colonialism, do you see a people deprived of the dignity of humanity, do you just
At that time in the early 1990’s, the U.S. was the only superpower country left in the world. The Soviet Union collapsed after the Cold War and the left the U.S. at the top. With the U.S. being the only superpower left, it meant that they were the only ones who could try to keep peace between other countries and hopefully end violence in the world. At the time, Somalia was a complete disaster and still is to this day. They have no structural government and warlords rule parts of the country.
Friedman, U. (2011, July 19). What It took for the U.N to declare famine in Somalia. Retrieved
The Sierra Leone Civil War lasted eleven years and left Sierra Leone scared and unconstructed. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) bombarded the country but faced constant resistance from the Sierra Leone Military. Both sides relied heavily on child soldiers throughout the war and a projected 5,000 to 10,000 child soldiers were collectively used by both the Sierra Leone government and the RUF. These children forcibly entered into a life of violence and oppression, and they have since struggled to reintegrate back into society. Child soldiers have returned home with no family or future and many still face severe complications.
Before the genocide had even begun, the Hutu and the Tutsi had already faced fierce hostility years before any violence was immediately evident. Even before colonialism began in the 1800’s, the Hutu and Tut...
During the 100-day period after April 6, 1994, between 800, 000 and one million Tutsi people were slaughtered. (Genocide in the 20th Century: Rwanda 1994) On April 7, roadblocks began to appear and soldiers began scouring the country for any person whose identification card read “Tutsi”. Entire families were murdered, often by their own neighbors and friends, and occasionally by relatives through marriage. Eleven year-old Hamis Kamuhanda recounted his experience in an interview with a reporter from the British Broadc...
In the Africa, lies the country Somalia, which is located on east coast of the continent. Its capital, Mogadishu, however has inconveniently brought its own problems, from colonization to politics, disagreements arise, causing tension throughout the country. Somalia’s historical background and culture ultimately lead to the war in its capital, it lead to the War of Mogadishu.
The first Congo war began in October of 1996, due to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi killed over 800,000 Tutsis and Pro-Peace Hutus in 100 days, after the genocide 2 million refugees retreated to Rwanda’s western border in the Congo. The refugee camp was the base for the exiled Interhamwe and the army of Liberation o...