Greater Somalia

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Estimated territory of a pan-Somali nation in relation to neighboring countries.

Greater Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliweyn; Arabic: الصومال الكبير‎) refers to those regions in the Horn of Africa in which ethnic Somalis are and have historically represented the predominant population. Greater Somalia encompasses Somalia, Djibouti, the Ogaden of Ethiopia and the North Eastern Province of Kenya. Pan-Somalism refers to the vision of unifying these territories as a single Somali nation. The pursuit of this goal has led to conflict, with Somalia engaging in armed warfare with Ethiopia over the Ogaden region, as well as supporting Somali insurgents in the so-called Shifta War against Kenya.

Contents

History [edit]

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History of Somalia
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Muhammad Abdullah Hassan leader of the Dervishes was a Pan-Somalist.

During World War I, Britain secretly reached an agreement with Italy to transfer 94,050 square kilometers of its Somali-inhabited Jubaland protectorate (in present-day southwestern Somalia) to Italian Somaliland. This was Italy's reward for allying itself with Britain in its war against Germany. The treaty was honored and in 1924, Britain ceded Jubaland. In 1926, Jubaland was incorporated into Italian Somaliland, and was later re-dubbed Oltre Giuba by the Italians.[1] After its conquest of Ethiopia in 1936, Italy also annexed the Ogaden region.[2]

In early World War II, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland and ejected the British.[3] However, Britain retained control of British East Africa, which included the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District[4][5][6] that is today part of Kenya.

Britain regained control of British Somaliland in spring 1941, and conquered Italian Somaliland and the Ogaden. In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy.[3] The UN opted instead in 1949 to grant Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland for a period of ten years, after which time the region would be independent.[7]

Meanwhile, in 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of Somalis,[3] the British "returned" the Hawd (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably 'protected' by British treaties with the Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Ogaden to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against plundering by Somali clans.[8] Britain included the proviso that the Somali nomads would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over them.[7] This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over.[7]

Somali Republic [edit]

Map showing Greater Somalia colored in the national flag of Somalia.
A poster showing Ogaden and the rest of the Greater Somalia united in one country

The first armed conflict following the independence and unification of the former British and Italian colonies, known collectively as the Somali Republic, began in 1963 in an ethnic Oromo and Somali district, Elekere, then part of Bale province, instigated by the Oromo founder of the United Liberation Forces of Oromia, Waqo Gutu. The Bale revolt, a peasant revolt stemming from issues involving land, taxation, class, and religion,[9] raged in the province for several years until a number of developments took the energy out of the militants, as well as the decision of Somali Prime Minister Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal to focus his country's resources on economic development.[citation needed] Rebels began to surrender to the Ethiopian government at the end of 1969; Waqo Gutu, who had been the foremost of the insurgents, was surrounded with his command of barely 200 men in Arana by the Ethiopian army in February 1970 and surrendered. Pacification was complete by the next year.[10]

Djibouti gained its independence in 1977, but a referendum was held in 1958 on the eve of Somalia's independence in 1960 to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France. The referendum turned out in favor of a continued association with France, largely due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. However, the majority of those who voted no were Somalis who were strongly in favor of joining a united Somalia as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a Somali who campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum of 1958, eventually wound up as Djibouti's first president post-independence (1977–1991).[11]

Between 1977-1978, Somalia and Ethiopia waged a war over control of the predominantly Somali Ogaden region. In 1978 and with the help of Soviet and Cuban troops, Ethiopian troops drove back the Somali army from the Ogaden, effectively marking the end of the Ogaden War.

In 1981, Siad Barre visited Nairobi, and stated that Somalia was relinquishing its claim on the North Eastern Province (NFD). Improved relations with Kenya led to the signing of a pact in December 1984 agreeing to cease hostilities along the border.

Following renewed hostilities in the Ogaden with an August 1982 border clash,[12][13] Ethiopia and Somalia signed a peace treaty in 1988.

Somali Civil War [edit]

Current political situation of Somalia, as of February 10, 2012

With the start of the Somali Civil War, the vision of uniting the various historically and predominantly Somali-inhabited areas of the Horn of Africa into a Greater Somalia was temporarily sidelined. Thousands of refugees have been granted political asylum in Kenya.[14] Talk of pan-Somali unification movements for the moment took a backseat, as the Republic splintered into a few autonomous smaller regional or clan-based governing zones. The government of the secessionist region of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia has consistently attempted to break away from the Somali Republic and launched an unsuccessful though persistent campaign to seek recognition from international organizations and countries. Somaliland further clashed with Puntland over control of the Sool and Sanaag regions. Though there was no unified government and thus no formal policy towards irredentism, individual militia leaders clashed with Ethiopian troops between 1998 and 2000.[15]

Islamic Courts Union [edit]

In late 2006, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, head of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that then controlled much of southern Somalia, declared, "We will leave no stone unturned to integrate our Somali brothers in Kenya and Ethiopia and restore their freedom to live with their ancestors in Somalia."[16] These aims were sidelined after the decisive defeat of the ICU in the Battle of Baidoa and the subsequent actions of the war in Somalia by the allied forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the autonomous governing zones of Puntland, Southwestern Somalia, Jubaland, and Galmudug and their military backer, Ethiopia. The Islamic Courts split into two factions. One faction wanted to sign a peace deal and merge with the TFG, while the other sought to defeat the Ethiopian troops and expel the African Union soldiers before any peace agreements.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Alex Thomson, "An Introduction to African Politics", 2 edition, (Routledge: 2000), p.23
  2. ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia p. 104 (New York, 1999)
  3. ^ a b c Federal Research Division, Somalia: A Country Study, (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2004), p.38
  4. ^ Africa Watch Committee, Kenya: Taking Liberties, (Yale University Press: 1991), p.269
  5. ^ Women's Rights Project, The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights, (Yale University Press: 1995), p.121
  6. ^ Francis Vallat, First report on succession of states in respect of treaties: International Law Commission twenty-sixth session 6 May-26 July 1974, (United Nations: 1974), p.20
  7. ^ a b c Aristide R. Zolberg et al., Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, (Oxford University Press: 1992), p.106
  8. ^ David D. Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience, (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), p.73
  9. ^ Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia: Power and Protest: Peasant Revolts in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 1991.
  10. ^ The details of this paragraph are based on Paul B. Henze Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 263f.
  11. ^ Lowell Barrington, After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States, (University of Michigan Press: 2006), p.115
  12. ^ Somalia, 1980-1996 ACIG
  13. ^ Ethiopian-Somalian Border Clash 1982 OnWar.com
  14. ^ de Montclos, Marc-Antoine Perouse (June 2008). "Humanitarian Aid, War, Exodus, and Reconstruction of Identities: A Case Study of Somali “Minority Refugees” in Kenya". Nationalism & Ethnic Politics (London: Taylor & Francis Ltd) 14 (2): 289–321. doi:10.1080/13537110802034985. ISSN 1557-2986. 
  15. ^ Ethiopia Middle East Desk
  16. ^ "Islamic Leader Urges Greater Somalia". Associated Press. 2006-11-18. Retrieved 2007-01-15. 

Further reading [edit]

  • Pierre Petrides, The Boundary Question between Ethiopia and Somalia. New Delhi, 1983.

External links [edit]

Irredentist movements in the World
Africa
Asia
Europe
Americas
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