# Carried the banner: every generation since 1895

> Since 1895, when the Sayyid began, every generation of Somalis has carried the banner of one free and prosperous Somalia.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/carried-the-banner-since-1895/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The Dervish movement, 1895 to 1920

- **What they set out to do:** a Somali authority under Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan to end British, Italian and Ethiopian rule, based at Taleh.
- **What held it back:** colonial powers arming rival local groups against it, rivalry between Sufi orders, and the defeat of its WWI backers. Taleh fell in February 1920.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish_movement_%28Somali%29)

## UN Trusteeship, 1950 to 1960

- **What they set out to do:** a 10-year run-up to independence. The Somali Youth League won the 1954 and 1956 elections, and Somalis ran the administration by 1956.
- **What held it back:** a thin budget, a banana-only economy, little higher education, and a south on a different track from the north.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_Territory_of_Somaliland)

## The union, 1960 to 1969

- **What they set out to do:** joining two newly free territories into one Somali Republic.
- **What held it back:** two legal, tax, police, school and currency systems merged after the fact. The north gave the 1961 constitution under 50% support.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Republic)

## Greater Somalia, 1960 to 1978

- **What they set out to do:** uniting every Somali-inhabited land under the five-pointed star.
- **What held it back:** neighbours holding the Ogaden and NFD, the 1961 NFD vote left unacted, and African bodies holding to colonial borders.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Republic)

## The Barre era, 1969 to 1991

- **What they set out to do:** one party, an anti-clan ideology, Somali taught in schools from 1972, a mass literacy drive, roads joining north and south.
- **What held it back:** rule by security law and, after 1978, repression aimed at whole communities. The state collapsed on 26 January 1991.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siad_Barre)

## Reconciliation rounds and transitional governments, 1991 to 2012

- **What they set out to do:** Djibouti 1991, Addis Ababa 1993, Arta 2000 (first civil-society-led talks), the Kenya talks of 2004 (federal charter and the 4.5 clan formula).
- **What held it back:** faction leaders who gained more from the vacuum, neighbours able to veto, and dependence on foreign backers.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitional_Federal_Government)

## The Federal Government, 2012 to now

- **What they set out to do:** federal member states and a move toward one person, one vote.
- **What held it back:** 4.5 becoming permanent, and centralising amendments passed without a referendum. Puntland left in 2024, Jubaland suspended ties, and South West followed in 2026.
- [Horn Review](https://hornreview.org/2026/04/21/analysis-of-somalias-constitution-crisis/), [WardheerNews](https://wardheernews.com/4-5-in-somalia-from-temporary-fix-to-permanent-obstacle/)

## Puntland, 1998 to now

- **What they set out to do:** a self-governing state built at a three-month Garowe conference of elders, business and civil society, as a building block for federal Somalia.
- **What held it back:** being seen as the state of only some communities. It now runs apart from Mogadishu until there is a referendum-approved constitution.
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puntland)

## Somaliland, 1991 to now

- **What they set out to do:** a return to 1960 borders and home-grown institutions.
- **What held it back:** no UN member recognising it until Israel on 26 December 2025, a move Somalia and the AU rejected.
- [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/1963551)

## Where it stands now

On 5 November 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that parliament's term ended on 14 April 2026 and the president's on 15 May 2026. It ordered a deal on an election framework within 30 days (about 5 December 2026) and elections within 90 days (about 3 February 2027). The government rejects the ruling, and the presidency dismissed the chief justice on 4 November. Sources: [Garowe Online](https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/somalia-supreme-court-rules-president-parliament-terms-expired-orders-elections-within-90-days), [Eurasia Review](https://www.eurasiareview.com/08112026-somalias-constitution-applies-to-the-presidency-too-court-rules-oped/).

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