History of Somalia (1991–2006)
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History of Somalia |
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Somalia portal |
Between the
His government's fall sparked Somalia's history by the reasons above.
The Transitional Federal Government, formed in 2004, was recognized as the central government of Somalia. Before December 2006, the TFG controlled only the town of
The rule of law
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Where things went wrong is when we decided, the U.N. decided, that somehow we could tell the Somalis how they should live with each other. At that point we lost the bubble…
U.S. General Colin Powell, 1995[13]
Following the
Anthropologist Spencer MacCallum has identified the rule of law during the period as that of the Xeer, a customary law indigenous to Somalia. The law permits practices such as safe travel, trade, and marriage, which survives "to a significant degree" throughout Somalia, particularly in rural Somalia where it is "virtually unaffected".[2]
MacCallum credits the Xeer with "Somalia's success without a central government, since it provides an authentic rule of law to support trade and economic development."
The absence of any effective coast guard to enforce maritime law, however, resulted in Somali international waters becoming an "international free-for-all", with piracy off the coast of Somalia in particular being the subject of international attention. Supporters of Somali piracy argue that they are reacting to illegal over-fishing and toxic waste dumping by foreign powers, and some pirate organisations have styled themselves as voluntarist defense organisations with names like National Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia and Somali Marines.[17]
Social conditions
The international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières stated that the level of daily violence during this period was "catastrophic".[18] While the homicide rate was significantly higher than in the US or in Europe, it was actually lower than in most of the African countries.[19] A statistic from 2000 indicated that only 21% of the population had access to safe drinking water at that time, and Somalia had one of the highest child mortality rates in the world with 10% of children dying at birth and 25% of those surviving birth dying before age five.[1] Additionally, "adult literacy is estimated to have declined from the already low level of 24% in 1989 to 17.1% in 2001."[20] A more recent 2003 study reported that the literacy rate was 19%.[16] The impact on human development in Somalia of governmental collapse and ensuing civil war was profound, leading to the breakdown of political institutions, the destruction of social and economic infrastructure and massive internal and external migrations.[20]
According to a study by the libertarian think tank the Independent Institute:[5]
In 2005, Somalia ranked in the top 50 percent in six of our 13 measures, and ranked near the bottom in only three: infant mortality, immunization rates, and access to improved water sources. This compares favorably with circumstances in 1990, when Somalia last had a government and was ranked in the bottom 50 percent for all seven of the measures for which we had that year's data: death rate, infant mortality, life expectancy, main telephone lines, tuberculosis, and immunization for measles and DTP."
The libertarian think tank the Mises Institute also repeatedly praised Somalia,[21][22][23][24] as has the Libertarian think tank the Cato Institute.[25]
Prior to the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s, Somalia's life expectancy was approximately equal to neighboring Ethiopia. As of 2014, after a quarter of a century of minimal government, life expectancy in Somalia was 9 years behind Ethiopia. However, both of them improved drastically.
Social organization
In the absence of functioning governmental
Communications
In the absence of government service provision and regulation, private businessmen stepped in to provide telecommunications and mail services.[3] In 2007 parts of Somalia had some of the best voice telecommunications in Africa, with 10 or more competing companies ready to wire home or office and provide crystal-clear service, including international long distance, for about $10 a month." According to the CIA World Factbook, private telephone companies "offer service in most major cities" via wireless technology, charging "the lowest international rates on the continent",[1][27][28] Installation time for a land-line was just three days, while in neighboring Kenya waiting lists were many years long.[15] On the other hand, just 0.7% of the population of Somalia had access to internet in 2006, a sixth of Kenya's internet penetration at the time,[29] and in 2007 mobile phone penetration rates in Somalia were amongst the lowest in Africa.[30]
The Economist argued the lack of telecommunication regulation in Somalia represented "a vivid illustration of the way in which governments…can often be more of a hindrance than a help" to private entrepreneurs.[31] Abdullahi Mohammed Hussein of Telecom Somalia stated that "the government post and telecoms company used to have a monopoly but after the regime was toppled, we were free to set up our own business", though he also commented that he would be "interested in paying taxes" if an incoming government improved the security situation.[32]
Utilities
Since 1991 Somalia has lacked a functioning central electricity grid, but private entrepreneurs have offered electricity generation on a localised basis, typically offering a choice of daytime, evening or 24-hour electricity.
Private entrepreneurs have also collected and distributed water, although due to a lack of purification there is little access to safe water.[33]
Media
After the fall of the government, dozens of private
Transport
Multiple private airlines, including Air Somalia, Jubba Airways and Daallo Airlines, emerged to serve the Somali market. According to a 2005 World Bank report, the "private airline business in Somalia is now thriving with more than five carriers and price wars between the companies."[34] Mohammed Yassin Olad, owner of Daallo Airlines, stated that the absence of government has led to both difficulties and benefits, and commented that "corruption is not a problem, because there is no government…We build the airports and we service the airports and we only fly when we are sure it's safe".[34] Concurrently, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Development Programme managed Somalia's airspace through the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia.
The expansion of the aviation industry was accompanied by the disruption of road transport; many roads are frequently blocked by militia checkpoints which demand payment (between $3 and $300, depending on goods carried) in order to allow the cars to continue their journey. A BBC report claimed there were seven such checkpoints in the 50 km between an airstrip and the capital, Mogadishu. Most of the money is used to buy khat, a drug used by the militiamen, and weapons such as the AK-47 and RPG-7.[35]
Education
In a 2007 study of the state of education in Somalia since the collapse of central authority in 1991, Abdullahi Sheikh Abdinoor found that "the Somali people have adapted rather well, under the circumstances, to the absence of the state, despite continuing insecurity and lawlessness prevailing in the country."[11] Following the destruction of educational systems and infrastructure during the civil war, many new educational institutions were opened by community members, private enterprises and Islamic NGOs.[11]
For centuries, the Somali community, as opposed to the state, has been in charge of Islamic education in all aspects, providing financial and administrative support.
By 2005 there were 1,172 primary schools, but levels of enrollment that were low even by African standards with only around 17–19% of schoolchildren in primary education.[16][37] Nevertheless, this level of primary enrollment was approaching pre-war levels, with secondary school enrollment also showing an increase since 1998.[20]
In Mogadishu, the
Currency
Rival producers of Somali shillings emerged after 1991. These included the Na shilling, which failed to gain widespread acceptance, and the Balweyn I and II, which were forgeries of pre-1991 bank notes. A competition for seigniorage drove the value of the money down to about $0.04 per SoSh (1000) note, approximately the commodity cost. Consumers have refused to accept bills larger than the 1991 denominations, which has helped stop the devaluation from spiraling further. The pre-1991 notes and the subsequent forgeries are treated as the same currency. It takes large bundles to make cash purchases.[15]
The relatively stable value of the currency in the 1990s compared to the 1980s is explained by Peter D. Little in Somalia: Economy without a State as resulting from the lack of a central government printing currency to pay for civil and military expenditures. Traders avoid the need to carry large amounts of Somali shillings by converting them to U.S. dollars and then wiring them to money houses in Somalia. Because identification can be easily forged, those seeking to pick up wired money are required to answer questions about their clan and kinship relations. Private remittance companies known as hawala assist in the transfer of money. One of the largest such companies, Al Barakaat, was shut down in 2001 by a U.S.-led initiative due to alleged terrorist ties; the company's communications business, with more than 40,000 subscribers, was also shut down.
With the establishment of the Transitional National Government in 2000, a group of businessmen imported about 30 billion shillings of Canadian-printed notes, sparking a collapse of the currency and wide-scale demonstrations and protests in Mogadishu. The value declined by 30 percent (to 13,000 per $1) in three months, and by the end of 2001 the currency had fallen to about SoSh 22,000 per US dollar. Further imports of money caused additional disruption and the TNG was forced to buy up large amounts of money.[38]
In the autonomous northwestern Somaliland region, the Somaliland shilling is used as currency. It hasn't been recognized as legal tender by the international community, and has no official exchange rate. It is regulated by the Bank of Somaliland, the enclave's central bank. Although the separatist authorities in Somaliland attempted to bar usage of the Somali shilling, Somalia's official currency remained the preferred means of exchange for many peoples in the region.[39]
Economic conditions
Although it states that no reliable statistics are available for the period in question, the
When extreme poverty (percentage of individuals living on less than PPP$1 a day) was last measured by the World Bank in 1998, Somalia fared better than many other countries in Africa, over some of whom Somalia also had superior infrastructure.
In the absence of a Somali state and its institutions, the private sector grew "impressively" according to the World Bank in 2003, particularly in the areas of trade, commerce, transport, remittance and infrastructure services and in the primary sectors, notably in livestock, agriculture and fisheries.
Islamic courts
Following the collapse of centralized government, much of the legal system and most of the educational institutions and social services fell under the control of religious institutions, which often received significant funding and support from international charities. In 2005, some of these clerical organizations united to form the
Transitional Federal Government
The
See also
- Consolidation of states within Somalia (1998–2006)
- Kritarchy
- Piracy in Somalia
- Politics of Somalia
- List of anarchist communities
- Human rights in Somalia
References
- ^ CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ a b c Gettleman, Jeffrey (2007-04-27). "In Somalia, Those Who Feed Off Anarchy Fuel It". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e "The Somali Democratic Republic". UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ The Independent Institute. 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ Tabarrok, Alex (2004-04-21). "Somalia and the theory of anarchy". Marginal Revolution. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ Hargis, Mike (Winter 1993). "Somalia – Chaos or Anarchy?". Libertarian Labor Review (14). Archived from the original on September 10, 2005. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
- The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. 2 (3). Retrieved 2010-01-28.
But if we define anarchy as places without governments, and we define governments as the agencies with a legal right to impose violence on their subjects, then whatever else occurred in Haiti, Sudan, and Somalia, it wasn't anarchy. For there were well-organized gangs (e.g., governments) in each of these places, demanding tribute, and fighting others who made similar impositions. Absence of government means absence of government, whether well established ones, or fly-by-nights.
- ^ Block, Walter (Summer 2005). "Governmental Inevitability: Reply to Holcombe" (PDF). Journal of Libertarian Studies. 19 (3). Retrieved 2010-01-28.
Here, there most certainly were bands of thugs and fraction leaders on the loose. Are these not governments? Anyone who denies this must show a relevant difference between these marauders and the governments of such worthies as Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and their ilk.
- ^ Block, Walter (Spring 2007). "Rejoinder to Holcombe on the Inevitability of Government" (PDF). Journal of Libertarian Studies. 21 (1). Retrieved 2010-01-28.
[A]t one time, Bosnia, Somalia, and Afghanistan had central governments, and no longer do so; instead, they have decentralized governments, rebel thugs. For Holcombe (2004), in contrast, once the central government is gone, there is anarchy. That is, he considers the thuggish war lord scenario to be what I am advocating, and does not much like it. Well, neither do I. ...[S]uffice it to say, I do not consider [this] exactly the model of the anarcho-capitalism I advocate.
- ^ a b c d e f Abdinoor, Abdullahi Sheikh (2007). "Constructing Education in a Stateless Society: The Case of Somalia" (PDF). Cultural Studies in Education. Retrieved 2007-10-02.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Little, P. (2003). Somalia: Economy without state. Oxford:International African Institute in association with James Currey.
- ^ a b c Crigler, Frank (1995-10-15). "Return to Somalia; In the Land that Americans Want to Forget, Some Modest Signs of Success". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ Mazrui, A. (1997). "Crisis in Somalia: From tyranny to anarchy." In Adam, H. & Ford, R. (Eds.), Mending rips in the sky: Options for Somali communities in the 21st century (pp. 5–11). Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press, Inc.
- ^ a b c d Benjamin Powell; Ryan Ford; Alex Nowrasteh (2006-01-30). "Somalia After State Collapse: Chaos or Improvement?" (PDF). Independent Institute.
- ^ a b c d e Nenova, Tatiana; Harford, Tim (November 2004). "Anarchy and Invention" (PDF). Public Policy for the Private Sector (280). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-03-07. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ Ishaan Tharoor (2006-04-18). "How Somalia's Fishermen Became Pirates". Time.[dead link]
- ^ "Violence continues unabated in Somalia". News & Special Reports. Médecins Sans Frontières. 2005-08-22. Retrieved 2008-01-13. [dead link]
- ^ Rogers, Simon (2009-10-13). "Global homicide: murder rates around the world". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ a b c d World Bank Advisory Committee for Somalia Country Re-Engagement Note (pdf) (2003), retrieved 4 November 2005
- ^ kanopiadmin (2006-02-20). "Stateless in Somalia, and Loving It". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ kanopiadmin (2011-06-27). "Anarchy in Somalia". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ kanopiadmin (2013-07-26). "Competing Currencies in Somalia". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ newvalleymedia (2007-01-22). "Somalia: Society vs. the State?". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ "Anarchy Unbound, or: Why Self-Governance Works Better than You Think". Cato Unbound. 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ^ a b c Getteleman, Jeffrey (2006-11-26). "Business and Islam: Allies Against Anarchy in Somalia". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ISBN 978-0-06-122875-9.
- ^ National Geographic. Archived from the originalon March 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ Christian Fuchs, Eva Horak, Africa and the Digital Divide http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/divide.pdf
- ^ "What are the Economic and Social Impacts of the Mobile Phone Sector in Developing Countries?" (PDF). Proparco. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-14. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
- ^ "Somalia calling: An unlikely success story". The Economist. 2005-12-20.
- British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ a b Tatiana Nenova (July 30, 2004). "Private sector response to the absence of government institutions in Somalia" (PDF).
- ^ a b "Africa Open for Business". The World Bank. 2005-03-18. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Living in Somalia's anarchy". BBC. 2004-11-18. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
- ^ a b Bock, Alan (2003-04-29). "Is Somalia a Model?". Antiwar.com. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ Ihebuzor, Noel (2005-01-31). "EC and UNICEF join hands to support education in Somalia". United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ISBN 0-253-21648-6.
- ^ Time for Somaliland to Rethink its Strategy
- ^ a b Mark Mazzetti (2006-06-09). "CIA failed in Somalia, officials say". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ "What is Sharia law?". BBC News. 2021-08-19. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
- ^ Shariah in Somalia – Arab News
Further reading
- Notten, Michael (2005). The Law of the Somalis. City: The Red Sea Press, Inc. ISBN 978-1-56902-250-4.
- Little, Peter (2003). Somalia: Economy Without State. Oxford: International African Institute in association with James Currey. ISBN 0-253-21648-6.
External links
- Who Needs Government? Pirates, Collapsed States, and the Possibility of Anarchy, August 2007 issue of Cato Unboundfocusing on Somali anarchy.
- Crisis briefing on the current Somalia troubles by Reuters AlertNet
- Peter Leeson "Somalia Before and After Government Collapse"
- Mogadishu University
- Kismayo University