|
IRIN Webspecial: A Decent Burial
Part Four: The fragmentation of Somalia
As the south was consumed by factional fighting, the northern based SNM declared unilateral independence for Somaliland in May 1991, based on the former British Somaliland borders. Politically, the hardline secessionists disassociated Somaliland from the south, and argued that independence was based on atrocities inflicted by the region by the previous system. Although nothing on the scale of the south, Somaliland also experienced inter-clan killings and destruction as the newly "independent" administration tried to establish itself - first under Abdirahman Tur, and then under former Prime Minister Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, who was elected to office by clan elders in Boroma in 1993, and again in 1997.
?
Puntland declared itself an autonomous region in 1998, after a conference was held in Garowe attended by delegates and observers from the Bari, Nugal, Sool and Sanaag regions. The conference ended by formulating a new "social contract" as a basis for the restoration of effective state authority in these regions. In contrast to Somaliland, however, Puntland has never considered itself a separate entity. During the US-led intervention from December 1992, the US and the UN favoured the northeast as a model of stability and development.
|
Poetry
Mowdkiyo raqdoodii miyaa laga dulmaansooday
Sidii waxan muslimahayn miyaa muxubo loo laayey
Madfac iyo rasaastii miyaa meel kastaba gaarey
What is hard to accept is the gloating of the oppressor over the scattered Mijerteen corpses
And they've been heinously massacred as if they did not belong to the family of Muslims
Did not Barre - everywhere - mercilessly rain mortar shells and bullets on the Mijerteens
Published in Minority Rights Report Somalia: A nation in turmoil
|
As a region, it too had suffered under the previous system, notably when security forces meted out collective punishment to the local Mijerteen clans after a group of colonels tried to stage a coup in the aftermath of the Ogaden war. The attempt was led by a Mijerteen colonel, and seventeen officers were summarily executed. One of the coup attempters, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf - now president of Puntland - fled to Ethiopia and set up the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF). As the Mijerteen-led SSDF began to launch forays along the border, Barre began collective punishment of the Mijerteen. According to a report by Minority Rights Group International, "Barre sent crack units, the dreaded Red Hats, into the Mijeerteen country in the Mudug region where they put fearful repressive methods into action." [Somalia: A nation in turmoil 1991]. Wells were poisoned and destroyed; cattle and camels were killed; and people were slaughtered, said the Minority Rights report.
next
back to the WebSpecial home page
IRIN gratefully acknowledges the support of Africa Online in developing this WebSpecial.
? 2001, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All rights reserved.
|
|
Interviews
-
IRIN Somalia archives
- UNHCHR Human Rights report (1999
- UNHCHR forensic report (1999)
- Amnesty International: Building human rights in the disintegrated state (1995)
- Physicians for Human Rights 1992: Somalia: No Mercy in Mogadishu.
-
IRIN WebSpecial - Somali Peace Conference
-
Somalia Timeline
|
|
Feedback:
IRIN welcomes constructive comments and will post a representative selection of readers views, but reserves the right to discard material which is abusive and inflammatory. Please restrict the length of your reply to one page.
Reply to any of these comments, or send IRIN
|
|
