Welcome to SOMALIA!: HISTORY: What MADE SOMALIA what it is TODAY!!


DROUGHT IN SOMALIA:

From 1972-75 Somalia suffered from a severe drought called The SAHEL DROUGHT which caused a crisis of widespread starvation. This continued as dry weather brought disaster and swept eastward through the Horn of Africa. This had a horrible impact in the country, causing both the population and the livestock herds to drastically decrease. Crop failures and losses of livestock often occur when seasonal rains fail or when unusually heavy storms cause widespread flooding. Pastoral nomads, suffer alot in droughts in search of water and grazing. During this time, People's emergency food supplies start to diminish rapidly, and hunger and starvation become very common. This famine threatened the lives of hundreds of Somalis who had to leave their home and struggle into other countries like Kenya seeking for relief from starvation.

All of this starts to stabilize again when weather starts to improve and livestock slowly rejuvenates. By the end of 1973, famine had claimed the lives of about 300,000 peasants throughout Africa. Most were women and children, who suffered from dehydration, malnutrition, and diseases such as malaria, and tuberculosis.There were more than 700,000 reported refugees scattered in twenty-six makeshift camps, where the absence of sanitation and inadequate medical assistance were compounding the misery created by the food shortages. During the 1980s, the crisis intensified, as 2.5 million people in the region abandoned their homes and sought asylum in neighboring countries.

For More Info:http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/46.htm

"Black Hawk Down": Somalia in 1992-93

On December 12, 1992, the U.S. sent 28,000 soldiers into Somalia under the cover of the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) in what they said was a "humanitarian mission" to bring food to starving people. This invasion came after a several year drought had taken hundreds of lives. What people didn't know was that U.S. troops were not delivering food but instead were starting daily gun battles and bombing attacks in heavily populated neighborhoods. In ten months, more than 10,000 Somalis died as a result of the U.S aggressive actions.

INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE!

Resistance among Somali women, men and even children to the U.S. troops became widespread. The Somali people have a long and proud history of resistance. They fought for the freedom of their country from Italian, French and British colonialism, and the U.S. wouldn’t be the exception. The human rights organization in Africa stated that troops "have engaged in abuses of human rights, including killing of civilians, physical abuse, theft. Many U.S. soldiers have also displayed unacceptable levels of racism toward Somalis." These abuses included opening fire with machine guns against unarmed protesters, firing missiles into residential areas and murdering civilians without no reason at all, including many youth. Finally on 1995 the U.S leave having failed their mission.For More Info: Black Hawk Down

1996-Warlord Muhammad Aideed dies of his wounds during this attack.

Raw Video: Dozens Killed in Clashes in Somalia

PIRACY CONCERN IN SOMALIA:

Piracy is one of the biggest concerns in Somalia. Somali pirates are recognized for going on little boats, armed with lots of weapons and hijacking and stealing other ships and boats at sea. Although they rob all their money, food, clothing, and pretty much all they can find, they never kill their captives. Before piracy became popular in Somalia, one of the most common jobs was fishing. Since Somalia didn’t have a stable or permanent state of government; some toxic wastes were started to be poured in Somali shores. Somali people tried to peacefully fight for their rights, but nothing was done about it. Since fish were contaminated and poisonous the fishing industry decreased, and deaths and diseases increased. They decided to take matters into their own hands. Somalis didn’t have another choice, but find some sort of way to find food and money to survive so they started PIRACY. At first it was just done for necessities, but then it became popular, common, and people started to get greedy.

During April,2008 EU calls for international efforts to tackle piracy off the Somali coast after a series of hijackings and attacks on vessels. Then on September, Somali pirates hijack a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks, which caused a widespread concern. The US and other countries placed a naval force to patrol Somali waters in an effort to control piracy. It didn’t work too well, and later on November 2009 Somali pirates hijacked a super-tanker carrying oil from Saudi Arabia to the U.S and demanded a 25m dollar ransom for its return. This was one of the largest ships captured by Somalia. By 2011, Pirate attacks on ships made a worldwide record with 49 to 52 hijacked ships.

For More Info: PIRACY

K'naan talks about the truth behind Somali Pirates: