THE PARTITION OF SOMALIA – 1875 To 2012

An Open Letter to the Somali People from Amira

Partition: The process of Invasion, Occupation, Colonization and Annexation

As the international community lines up to attend another foreign sponsored conference on Somalia to be held in London on 23 February 2012, an historical timeline deserves contemplation as it best portrays the seemingly unending rotation of foreign interests who have kept a brilliant and remarkable people in perpetual statelessness for more than a hundred years. Reference is herein made to a Somalia Profile published by the BBC on 10 February 2012, as a chronology of key events, beginning in 1875.

1875 – Egypt occupies towns on Somali coast and parts of the interior.

1860s- France acquires a foothold on the Somali coast later becoming Djibouti

1887- Britain proclaims „protectorate‟ over Somaliland

1888- Anglo-French agreement defines boundary between Somali colonial possessions of the two countries

1889- Italy sets up a „protectorate‟ in central Somalia, later consolidated with territory in the south ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar

1925 ? Territory east of the Jubba River detached from Kenya to become the westernmost part of the Italian „protectorate‟

1936- Italian Somaliland combined with Somali-speaking parts of Ethiopia to form a province of Italian East Africa

1940- Italians occupy British Somaliland

1941- British occupy Italian Somaliland

1950- Italian Somaliland becomes a UN trust territory under Italian control

1956- Italian Somaliland remained Somalia and granted internal autonomy

1960- British and Italian parts of Somalia claim indepedence, merge and form the United Republic of Somalia

1969-1991- Drought and War

1991 – Somaliand breaks away

1995- UN Peacekeepers leave having failed in their mission

1998- Puntland declares autonomy

2004- 14th attempt to install a central government since 1991 in Kenya

2004- Tsunami hits Somalia killing hundreds of Somalis and displacing tens of thousands of people

2005- Somali parliament returns to Mogadishu from Kenya

2006- Islamists Advance and take control of the capital

2006- TFG and ICU in peace talks from Khartoum, Sudan

2006- Ethiopian deploys 100,000 troops to occupy Mogadishu

2006- UN Security Council resolution endorses African peacekeepers specifying that neighboring states should not deploy their forces to Somalia

2006- African Union and Arab League urge Ethiopia to pull its troops out of Somalia; UN Security Council cannot agree on statement calling for foreign troops to pull out of Somalia

2007- On going air strikes conducted in southern Somalia targeting radical foreign insurgent elements

2007- UN Security Council authorizes a six month African Union peacekeeping mission for Somalia

2007- Ethiopian Premier Meles Zenawi visits Mogadishu pledging to withdraw his troops once peace takes hold

2007- Opposition groups form a new alliance in Asmara, Eritrea

2007- Ethiopian forces fire on demonstrators in Mogadishu protesting foreign invaders

2008- Burundi deploys 440 troops to Somalia

2008- EU calls for international effort to tackle piracy

2008- Ethiopia‟s Meles Zenawi says he will keep Ethiopian troops in Somalia until jihadists are defeated

2008- UN Security Council unanimously votes to allow countries to send warships into Somalia‟s territorial waters to tackle piracy

2009- Djibouti conference between TFG and Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia elects moderate Islamist as president

2009- Al Shabbab declares allegiance to Osama bin Laden

2010- Up to half of the international food aid being diverted to corrupt contractors, militants and local UN staff during one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory

2011- Kenya intervenes in southern Somalia

2011- France intervenes in southern Somalia

2011- Ethiopian troops return to Somalia

2011- On-going UAV airstrikes continue in Somalia

2011- Djibouti deploys 800 troops to Somalia

2012- UK Foreign Office announces the ?London Conference on Somalia? to seek agreement on what the international community believes should succeed the transitional institutions in Mogadishu in August 2012 and to establish a foreign Joint Financial Management Board

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As former colonial powers and continental newcomers divine uniquely selfish strategies for carving up a noble and fiercely nationalistic culture and the furtherance of informal imperialism of control through military intervention and economic dominance afforded by international donors, a word of caution is advised.

The Somalis have for decades endured internal division, external manipulation, famine, regional encroachment, colonial rivalry, Islamists, jihadists, peacekeepers, occupiers, trustees, pirates, warlords, embargoes and the list goes on. Little wonder a nation stirred into political chaos for over a century by the British, French, Italians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Kenyans, Djiboutians, Ugandans,Turks, Egyptians, Saudis, Iranians, Chinese, Russians have found peace illusive and economic prosperity out of reach.

The time has come to give the Somali people long overdue political space, free from outside urgings and influences, to find an organic level at which to take a breath and begin the important work of sorting their own affairs, region by region, with respectful distance and the requisite resources to accomplish internal stability. The embers of Somali nationalist are glowing. With the appropriate level of indigenous encouragement, Somalia will rise like phoenix from the ashes of civil war, starvation and loss. To each and every Somali brother and sister these words reach, it‟s time to take the nation back. Soomaliyeey Toosoo!