Somalia: Proxy Aggression as a Way Forward

In this post I am going to begin considering proxy aggression as an option for resolving the current Darfur humanitarian crisis. As a part of this consideration I will briefly review two other situations where proxy intervention has been utilized: Somalia (thank you Brandon) and Afghanistan. Then, I will examine the options available in Darfur for proxy aggression and offer some correlations from Somalia and Afghanistan. Today's post will focus on Somalia.

Moving from west to east across the entirety of the African continent, beginning in Nigeria, one can travel through as few as 5 countries (Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia). As of today, April 26, three of these countries are suffering terrible internal violence, one (Ethiopia) is fueling the violence in its neighboring country (Somalia), and the fifth country (Nigeria) is on the verge of political upheaval due to dishonest elections. Among all of this violence and broken government I choose to focus today on Somalia. My information is taken from three sources: 1) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's April 17th report regarding the situation in Somalia; 2) various articles from the International Herald Tribune; 3) various articles from the New York Times.


Until the 18th century Somalia had been traditionally governed by clan elders. In the 18th century the Italians governed southern Somalia and created an Italian-speaking administration to help build the economy. This style of rule resulted in a weakening of the traditional systems of Somalian authority (Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Somaliland is an overlooked African success story." International Herald Tribune. 7 March 2007). This weakening of authority had its tragic outcome years and years later after the fall of the Somalian dictator in January of 1991. The dictator of Somalia was overthrown and warlords were then able to out muscle clan elders, plunging the country into a period of violent anarchy. Warlords in plenty operated within the country stealing, raping and destroying.

In August of 1992 George H. Bush agreed to send food aide to Somalia to feed the hundreds of thousands of starving. Food had been delivered in the past, however warlords had intercepted the shipments and sold them for more guns and munitions. Bush's plan was to not only provide food, but a means for ensuring their delivery to the starving of Somalia. An international group was dispatched (mostly from Pakistan) but was not enough to fend off the Somali warlords. By December of 1992 one thousand or more people per day were dying in Somalia. President Bush submitted a plan to send as many as 20,000 US troops to Somalia as a part of a UN rescue mission (Editorial. "Dot It Right in Somalia." 1 December 1992. New York Times). The troops were sent and experienced success in delivering food to the hungry.

In January of 2003 Bill Clinton became the US president and shortly thereafter the mission changed from one of humanitarian aide to one of nation building in which the goals was to build a democratic government in Somalia. President Clinton expressed a desire to decrease the amount of US troops and hand over control of the nation building project to the UN. US Troop levels were diminished to about 1,000 by June of 1993. However, on June 5th of 1993 over twenty Pakistani troops were ambushed and killed. Aidid and his followers were assumed to be responsible for this attack and orders were given to capture him. On July 12th a US Cobra helicopter attacked a house in Mogadishu were clan leaders were meeting. Many clan elders were killed and this proved to be the turning point where Somalians led an insurgency against UN and US forces. As attacks on UN and US troops increased a task force of 440 elite US military was dispatched to Somalia. Their mission was to capture Aidid who was believed to be responsible for the increased violence. In October of 1993 a Black Hawk helicopter full of elite US forces was shot down and the US military was humiliated. On October 7th president Clinton withdrew all US forces from Somalia. By late spring of 1994 all UN troops were withdrawn from Somalia. (Information taken from http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Somalia93/Somalia93.html).

Since the failed UN intervention in Somalia anarchy has been the basic state of the country until June of last year. Islamic militias backed by local business men gained control of Mogadishu in June of 2006. An article from the New York times dated June 6th, 2006 describes how the Islamic militias gained control of Mogadishu:

"After months of fierce fighting, Islamic militias declared Monday that they had taken control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, defeating the warlords widely believed to be backed by the United States and raising questions about whether the country would head down an extremist path. The battle for Mogadishu has been a proxy war, of sorts, in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, with the warlords echoing Washington's goal of rooting out radical Islam and the presence of Al Qaeda in the region" (Lacey, Marc. "Somali Islamists Declare Victory; Warlords on Run." The New York Times. 6 June 2006).

The Islamic militia's motivation behind the June battle in Mogadishu was a desire to neutralize the warlords and improve business prospects. After setting up power in Mogadishu the Islamic militants provided security in the area for the first time in years. This in combination with the fact that they did not levy heavy taxes created a good economic atmosphere which lasted until the radical Islamic wing took over the government and declared war on Ethiopia. "The US viewed the Islamists' rise with alarm, fearing the emergence of a Taliban-style haven for al-Qa'ida and other Islamist extremists. Its fears were stoked by jihadist elements in the courts and credible reports that they were harbouring known al-Qa'ida operatives. It responded by cobbling together a coalition of Somali warlords, funded by the CIA. But the alliance was short-lived and its collapse at the hands of the courts only increased the latter's legitimacy." (Grono, Nick. "Somalia: Nation on the Cusp of Chaos or Resurrection." 8 January 2007. The Australian.)

In December of 2006 Ethiopia, with covert help from the US, crushed the Islamic militia (Mohammed Ibrahim and Yuusuf Maxamuud. "In Somalia, Those Who Feed Off Of Anarchy Fuel It." 25 April 2007. The New York Times). Since then Mogadishu has been a broiling pot of violence. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's April report on Somalia stated that 124,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February of this year. He also offers this information regarding violence in Mogadishu:

"Since early January 2007, there have been frequent attacks on Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government troops in Mogadishu, either against convoys travelling on key routes in the city or against troop locations and official residences, including hotels. There has been an increase in targeted assassinations of persons, including those suspected of being informers or supporters of the Government, and prominent figures. Buildings that house Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government troops have been subjected to mortar attacks, as have the Mogadishu airport, the main seaport and Villa Somalia, the official State House in the capital. There has been a resurgence of inter- and intra-clan fighting in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia."

So the current state of affairs in Somalia is poor at best. US Proxy intervention has been pursued through covert support of Somalian war lords, aerial bombing by US planes and ground support from Ethiopian forces. The result has been a disruption of the Islamic militias rule and a return to anarchy in southern Somalia.