SOMALIA: Chronology of key events since 1990

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 4 May 2005 (IRIN) -

December 1990: Clan-based uprising erupts in Mogadishu against the government of President Siyad Barre, which had previously used violent means to quell rebellion.

27 January 1991: Barre flees Mogadishu after forces loyal to the United Somali Congress (USC) of the Hawiye clan capture and retain control of Mogadishu, supported by the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM).

29 January 1991: Ali Mahdi, a businessman and member of the USC, declares himself interim president. General Mohamed Farah Aydid, leader of another faction of the USC, objects.

18 May 1991: The former British protectorate of Somaliland, anxious to separate itself from the chaos in the rest of Somalia, declares independence. [The territory is however not internationally recognised up to date.]

17 November 1991: Full-scale fighting starts between the two factions of USC headed by Ali Mahdi and Aydid. By the end of March 1992, Human Rights Watch estimates that up to 14,000 people have been killed. Mogadishu is split between forces loyal to the two men.

April 1992: To monitor the ceasefire in Mogadishu, and escort deliveries of humanitarian supplies to distribution centres in the city, the UN launches an operation in Somalia, called UNOSOM. UN Security Council approves deployment of 50 ceasefire observers.

December 1992: The US-led Unified Task Force (UNITAF) lands in Mogadishu to help create a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid in Somalia, and is authorised by the UN to use "all necessary means" to do so. "Operation Restore Hope" begins.

4 May 1993: UNITAF hands over operations to UNOSOM, with a mandate to establish a secure environment throughout Somalia. UNITAF troops are however not deployed to Somalia's northeast and northwest, or along the Kenyan-Somali border, where security continues to be a matter of grave concern for relief workers.

18 October 1993: Fighting in Mogadishu breaks out when US troops try to arrest Aydid’s top lieutenants. Eighteen American soldiers are killed and over 90 wounded. Hundreds of Somalis are killed and wounded. The corpses of the US soldiers are dragged through the streets.

28 March 1994: US mission to Somalia formally ends.

March 1994: A UN-sponsored peace conference brings together all Somali factions in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, resulting in the Nairobi declaration in which the factions agree to set up a government for Somalia.

March 1995: UNOSOM is withdrawn from Somalia when it reaches the end of its mandated period of operation - none of the Somali factions, NGOs or humanitarian agencies seek a renewal of its mandate.

[ENDS]