Africa

By way of background information, Somalia was granted independence from the British and the Republic of Somalia was formed in 1960. In 1969 the army seized power and assassinated then president.   Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre became president and renamed the country as the Somali Democratic Republic.

Somalia joined the United Nations as of 1960.  Later, in 1974, Somalia joined the Arab league primarily because of its large Muslim population and historical ties with the Arabs.  Somalia also became a member of the present day African Union (AU) and was a founding member of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Somalia was comprised of many clans most of which were discriminated against by a corrupt government that dealt in nepotism and favoritism.  Clan militias began to form and civil war eventually resulted.

In 1991 president Barre was overthrown by opposing clans.  Barre fled the country and Somalia essentially fell into anarchy and civil war.  There would be no official government again until 2000.  This government could not gain control and

The capital of Mogadishu fell to clan militias and from that time and until 2000 there was no functional government in Somalia.  Beginning in 2000 groups within the region and international community attempted to put a government in place.  However this was largely unsuccessful as no leadership was able to slow the violence.  Around 2004 the Transitional National Government (the “TNG”) was established as the official government of Somalia.  Around that same time – roughly between 2000 and 2006 the militant Islamist group, Al Shabaab, entered the picture in Somalia with the intent to wage war to enemies of Islam.  2008 and 2009 proved to be the most successful period for Al Shabaab and it was to gain control of many territories in Somalia –practically half of the country.  In 2010 Al Shabaab announced it was an arm of Al Qaeda.

Recently, there has been a successful movement by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) working with the Somali government.  The troops have taken the fight more directly at Al Shabaab in an attempt regain control of the lost regions.  The referenced Voice of America article reports the most recent successes of the movement (VOA article on recent progress in Somalia ). As you will see, progress is being made, albeit slowly, to try and bring peace and stability to change the course of the future for a country that has long been recognized as a failed state.