|
|
 |
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Isaaq Insurgency in Somalia 1982-1988 The Isaaq clans of northwestern Somalia also resented what they perceived as their inadequate representation in Siad Barre's government. This disaffection crystallized in 1981 when Isaaq dissidents living in London formed the Somali National Movement (SNM) with the aim of toppling the Siad Barre regime. The following year, the SNM transferred its headquarters to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, from where it launched guerrilla raids into the Woqooyi Galbeed and Togdheer regions of Somalia. Like the SSDF, the SNM had both military and political wings, proclaimed itself as a nationwide opposition movement, and tried to enlist the support of non-Isaaq clans. Initially, the SNM was more successful than the SSDF in appealing to other clans, and some Hawiye clan leaders worked with the SNM in the early and mid1980s . Prior to establishing itself within Somalia in 1988, the SNM used its Ethiopian sanctuary to carry out a number of sensational activities against the Siad Barre regime.
According to its spokesmen, the rebels wanted to overthrow Siad Barre's dictatorship. Additionally, the SNM advocated a mixed economy and a neutral foreign policy, rejecting alignment with the Soviet Union or the United States and calling for the dismantling of all foreign military bases in the region. In the late 1980s, the SNM adopted a pro-Western foreign policy and favored United States involvement in a post-Siad Barre Somalia. Other SNM objectives included establishment of a representative democracy that would guarantee human rights and freedom of speech. Eventually, the SNM moved its headquarters from London to Addis Ababa to obtain Ethiopian military assistance, which initially was limited to old Soviet small arms.
Mogadishu responded to the SNM attacks by declaring a state of emergency, imposing a curfew, closing gasoline stations to civilian vehicles, banning movement in or out of northern Somalia, and launching a search for the Mandera prisoners (most of whom were never found). On January 8, 1982, the Somali government also closed its border with Djibouti to prevent the rebels from fleeing Somalia. These actions failed to stop SNM military activities. In October 1982, the SNM tried to increase pressure against the Siad Barre regime by forming a joint military committee with the SSDF. Apart from issuing antigovernment statements, the two insurgent groups started broadcasting from the former Radio Kulmis station, now known as Radio Halgan (struggle). Despite this political cooperation, the SNM and SSDF failed to agree on a common strategy against Mogadishu. As a result, the alliance languished. In February 1983, Siad Barre visited northern Somalia in a campaign to discredit the SNM. Among other things, he ordered the release of numerous civil servants and businessmen who had been arrested for antigovernment activities, lifted the state of emergency, and announced an amnesty for Somali exiles who wanted to return home. These tactics put the rebels on the political defensive for several months. In November 1983, the SNM Central Committee sought to regain the initiative by holding an emergency meeting to formulate a more aggressive strategy. One outcome was that the military wing--headed by Abdulqaadir Kosar Abdi, formerly of the SNA--assumed control of the Central Committee by ousting the civilian membership from all positions of power. However, in July 1984, at the Fourth SNM Congress, held in Ethiopia, the civilians regained control of the leadership. The delegates also elected Ahmad Mahammad Mahamuud "Silanyo" SNM chairman and reasserted their intention to revive the alliance with the SSDF. After the Fourth SNM Congress adjourned, military activity in northern Somalia increased. SNM commandos attacked about a dozen government military posts in the vicinity of Hargeysa, Burao, and Berbera. According to the SNM, the SNA responded by shooting 300 people at a demonstration in Burao, sentencing seven youths to death for sedition, and arresting an unknown number of rebel sympathizers. In January 1985, the government executed twenty- eight people in retaliation for antigovernment activity. Between June 1985 and February 1986, the SNM claimed to have carried out thirty operations against government forces in northern Somalia. In addition, the SNM reported that it had killed 476 government soldiers and wounded 263, and had captured eleven vehicles and had destroyed another twenty-two, while losing only 38 men and two vehicles. Although many independent observers said these figures were exaggerated, SNM operations during the 1985-86 campaign forced Siad Barre to mount an international effort to cut off foreign aid to the rebels. This initiative included reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Libya in exchange for Tripoli's promise to stop supporting the SNM. Despite efforts to isolate the rebels, the SNM continued military operations in northern Somalia. Between July and September 1987, the SNM initiated approximately thirty attacks, including one on the northern capital, Hargeysa; none of these, however, weakened the government's control of northern Somalia. A more dramatic event occurred when a SNM unit kidnapped a Médecins Sans Frontières medical aid team of ten Frenchmen and one Djiboutian to draw the world's attention to Mogadishu's policy of impressing men from refugee camps into the SNA. After ten days, the SNM released the hostages unconditionally. Siad Barre responded to these activities by instituting harsh security measures throughout northern Somalia. The government also evicted suspected pro-SNM nomad communities from the Somali- Ethiopian border region. These measures failed to contain the SNM. By February 1988, the rebels had captured three villages around Togochale, a refugee camp near the northwestern Somali- Ethiopian border. Following the rebel successes of 1987-88, Somali-Ethiopian relations began to improve. On March 19, 1988, Siad Barre and Ethiopian president Mengistu Haile Mariam met in Djibouti to discuss ways of reducing tension between the two countries. Although little was accomplished, the two agreed to hold further talks. At the end of March 1988, the Ethiopian minister of foreign affairs, Berhanu Bayih, arrived in Mogadishu for discussions with a group of Somali officials, headed by General Ahmad Mahamuud Faarah. On April 4, 1988, the two presidents signed a joint communiqué in which they agreed to restore diplomatic relations, exchange prisoners of war, start a mutual withdrawal of troops from the border area, and end subversive activities and hostile propaganda against each other. Faced with a cutoff of Ethiopian military assistance, the SNM had to prove its ability to operate as an independent organization. Therefore, in late May 1988 SNM units moved out of their Ethiopian base camps and launched a major offensive in northern Somalia. The rebels temporarily occupied the provincial capitals of Burao and Hargeysa. These early successes bolstered the SNM's popular support, as thousands of disaffected Isaaq clan members and SNA deserters joined the rebel ranks. Over the next few years, the SNM took control of almost all of northwestern Somalia and extended its area of operations about fifty kilometers east of Erigavo. However, the SNM did not gain control of the region's major cities (i.e., Berbera, Hargeysa, Burao, and Boorama), but succeeded only in laying siege to them. With Ethiopian military
assistance no longer a factor, the SNM's success depended on its ability to
capture weapons from the SNA. The rebels seized numerous vehicles such as
Toyota Land Cruisers from government forces and subsequently equipped them
with light and medium weapons such as 12.7mm and 14.5mm machine guns, 106mm
recoilless rifles, and BM-21 To weaken Siad Barre's The Isaaq as a clan-family occupy the northern portion of the country. Three major cities are predominantly, if not exclusively, Isaaq: Hargeysa, the second largest city in Somalia until it was razed during disturbances in 1988; Burao in the interior, also destroyed by the military; and the port of Berbera. the Somali National Movement (SNM) remained an Isaaq clan-family organization dedicated to ridding the country of Siad Barre. The Isaaq felt deprived both as a clan and as a region, and Isaaq outbursts against the central government had occurred sporadically since independence. Government forces bombarded the towns heavily in June, forcing the SNM to withdraw and causing more than 300,000 Isaaq to flee to Ethiopia. The military regime savage reprisals The
military regime conducted savage reprisals against the Isaaq. Destruction of
water wells and grazing grounds and raping of women.
ASSISTANCE TO SIAD BARRE REGIME Cooperation between Somalia and China started before the break between Mogadishu and Moscow. It was not until 1981, however, that Beijing emerged as a major arms supplier to Siad Barre's regime. Thereafter, China supplied Somalia with an array of weaponry, including F-6 fighter-bombers in 1981, F-7 fighter- bombers in 1984, artillery, antiaircraft guns, rocket launchers, mortars, small arms, and ammunition. China also provided technical assistance to the Somali armed forces. On February 10, 1989, Somalia and China signed an agreement transferring Somalia's territorial fishing rights to China in exchange for armament credits. Beijing continued to provide military assistance to Mogadishu until the downfall of Siad Barre's regime. The outbreak of the SNM insurgency in mid-1988 and the drying-up of traditional sources of foreign military assistance persuaded Siad Barre to seek arms from Libya. On October 7, 1988, a Libyan Arab Airlines jet reportedly delivered nerve gas to Somalia. It was widely reported that Libya had acquired the chemical weapons from Iran. Mogadishu denied these charges. However, Tripoli supplied small amounts of conventional military weapons and ammunition to Siad Barre's regime. By early 1989, it was evident that the Somali government's strategy of using Libyan-supplied weapons to defeat the SNM and other insurgent groups had failed.
|
 EAST AFRICA
Online
|
On
January 2, 1982, the SNM launched its first military operation against the
Somali government. Operating from Ethiopian bases, commando units attacked
Mandera Prison near Berbera and freed a group of northern dissidents.
According to the SNM, the assault liberated more than 700 political
prisoners; 
regime further, the SNM encouraged the formation of other clan-based
insurgent movements and provided them with political and military support.
In particular, the SNM maintained close relations with the United Somali
Congress (USC), which was active in central Somalia, and the Somali
Patriotic Movement (SPM), which operated in southern Somalia. Both these
groups sought to overthrow Siad Barre's regime and establish a democratic
form of government...
An
estimated 5,000 Isaaq were killed between May 27 and the end of December
1988. About 4,000 died in the fighting, but an undertermime number of,
including women and children, were alleged to have been bayoneted to
death.Bitter cross-clan feuding fed by the inept and brutal one-party rule
of Muhammad Siad Barre (Siyad Barrah) came to a head in the spring of 1988
when the Somali National Movement (SNM) began taking over towns and military
installations in the north. Thousands were killed, and hundreds of thousands
of refugees fled to neighboring Ethiopia. Somalia's 
