Apr
25
History of Somalia (1)
April 25, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang
At the Berlin Conference of 1884, the scramble for Africa started the long and bloody process of the imperial partition of Somali lands. Somalia was divided into two and became the British and Italian colony.
The independence of the British Somaliland proclaimed on 26 June 1960 and unification with the former Italian Somaliland took place 5 days later. Now most of the Somali clans were independent and the country of Somalia was formed, albeit within boundaries drawn up by Italy and Britain.
However inter-tribal rivalry persisted with many clans claiming to have been forced into the state of Somalia. It has engaged a lot of wars with its neighbor including Ethiopia and Kenya to liberate and unite the Somali lands that had been divided and subjugated under colonialism.
The most famous attack on Ethiopia was later called The Ogaden War, which was seem unlawful by the international communities and backed the communist Ethiopia. The Somali Civil War finally broke out when its government became increasingly totalitarian and there were constant tribal wars and government resistance movements encouraged by Ethiopia sprang up across the country.
The civil war disrupted agriculture and food distribution in southern Somalia. The basis of most of the conflicts was clan allegiances and competition for resources between the warring clans. This is how the bloody story of Somalia begins, but it is not where it ends.
