The fall of Mogadishu, December 1990 to January 1991

In short

The US State Department reported: "The 21-year rule of Mohamed Siad Barre ended in January 1991, when Siad fled an uprising in the capital, Mogadishu" (US Department of State, Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1991: Somalia).

Africa Watch and Physicians for Human Rights wrote that the USC "played the central role in the final assault on Mogadishu in December 1990, as it was able to draw support from the Hawiye clan, who dominate the population living in and around Mogadishu". "The insurrection forced Siad Barre to flee on January 26, 1991" (Africa Watch and PHR, No Mercy in Mogadishu, March 1992).

For the armed fronts, see the armed movements, 1978–1991. For the war as a whole, see the Somali Civil War.

The advance on the capital, 1990

From a 1991 study by the US Center for Naval Analyses (CNA, Eastern Exit, 1991, pp. 6–8):

• Three fronts. In late 1990 the main rebel groups were the SNM in the north, the SPM in the south, and the USC, "primarily from Hawiye tribe", which "commenced fighting in mid-1990". See the United Somali Congress.
• October 1990. The SNM stepped up its attacks, and the USC began an offensive from central Somalia "which quickly gained success against the government forces".
• December 1990. USC forces were "within 30 miles of Mogadishu". Talks planned for 11–13 December in Cairo "fell through" because none of the three movements would take part.
• The city. By late November there was "increased banditry inside Mogadishu". Foreigners kept to their homes at night, and the UN evacuated almost all of its 300 staff in December.

The fighting, from 30 December 1990

• The outbreak. "On 30 December, Mogadishu erupted in fighting, with government forces using all weaponry on hand in an attempt to crush the growing USC presence in the capital" (CNA, p. 8).
• Shelling. "Government forces, primarily from the Marehan tribe, reportedly separated out members of the USC-supporting Hawiye tribe and indiscriminately fired artillery into predominantly Hawiye areas of Mogadishu" (same source). The State Department wrote: "Siad Barre shelled Mogadishu with field artillery, inflicting heavy casualties on clans he considered enemies. One Siad loyalist distributed flyers urging a war of extermination against non-Darod clans" (State Department, 1991).
• No quarter. "The insurrectionists in Mogadishu gave no quarter to Siad's forces; members of the hated 'Red Hat' presidential guard were left unburied where they died" (same source).
• The fronts' roles. The Library of Congress records that USC Abgaal fighters "infiltrated Mogadishu, whose population was approximately 80 percent Hawiye, and successfully fought without the assistance of either the SNM, the SPM, or the Habar Gidir faction of the USC" (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study).

The embassy evacuations, January 1991

From the CNA study (CNA):

• 2 January. US Ambassador James K. Bishop asked for military help to evacuate. The ships USS Guam and USS Trenton sailed that night.
• 4 January. There was a gun battle between embassy staff and looters. Italian and Soviet attempts to evacuate by air failed.
• 5–6 January. Helicopters flew a 60-man force into the embassy and took out "281 people from 30 countries (including 8 Ambassadors and 39 Soviet citizens)". The evacuees were landed at Muscat, Oman, on 11 January.

The State Department noted that "foreign embassies were evacuated in January and most, including that of the United States, remain vacant" at the end of 1991.

Siad Barre's flight and the new government

• 26 January 1991. Siad Barre fled the capital (Africa Watch and PHR). He and his supporters "regrouped to form yet another faction in southwestern Somalia, home of Siad's Marehan clan" (State Department).
• 29 January. "A mere three days later, without consulting the armed movements, or even the other factions of the USC, Ali Mahdi, a businessman and member of the USC, declared himself Interim President. General Mohamed Farah Aidid, leader of another faction of the USC, objected" (Africa Watch and PHR). See Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Mohamed Farah Aidid.
• Recognition. The State Department wrote that the USC "proclaimed a provisional government which none of the other factions recognized".
• What followed. "On November 17, 1991, General Aidid's forces... launched an all-out attack on President Mahdi's positions" (Africa Watch and PHR). See the collapse, 1991–2000.

Killings after the fall

From the State Department's report for 1991 (State Department):

• Mogadishu. "Armed Hawiye gangs began attacking Darod neighborhoods in Mogadishu. There are credible reports that hundreds of unresisting people—mostly Darod but Hawiye as well—were killed in ethnically motivated violence."
• Flight. "Mogadishu's population dropped by half or more as hundreds of thousands of Darod residents and between 7,000 and 15,000 Isaaks fled the killing."
• Brava. USC militias entered Brava on 10 February 1991. During a 36-day occupation they "reportedly shot dead about 120 Bravanese" and raped girls; girls taken away "are still missing".
• Galkayo. Darod organisations in the United States estimated "500 civilians were killed, 1,000 wounded, and 200 taken hostage" in a USC attack in February. The State Department wrote that "the numbers may be inflated" but "the allegation appears to be based on fact".

Who suffered?

• Hawiye residents of Mogadishu, under government artillery fire from 30 December 1990 (CNA; State Department).
• Darod residents of Mogadishu, attacked in their neighbourhoods after the government fell; hundreds killed and hundreds of thousands fled (State Department).
• Isaaq residents, between 7,000 and 15,000 of whom fled the city (State Department).
• The people of Brava, including the girls taken away, and of Galkayo (State Department).

Sources differ

• The date Siad Barre left. Africa Watch gives 26 January 1991. The State Department gives only "January 1991".
• The death toll. None of the sources linked here gives a total for the fighting of December 1990 to January 1991. The State Department speaks of "thousands of casualties".
• Who won Mogadishu. The Library of Congress credits the Abgaal wing of the USC fighting alone. The CNA describes the USC as a whole advancing from central Somalia.

Read the primary sources yourself

• US Department of State, Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1991: Somalia: text.
• Africa Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, No Mercy in Mogadishu (26 March 1992): text.
• Adam B. Siegel, Eastern Exit: The Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) from Mogadishu, Somalia, in January 1991, Center for Naval Analyses, CRM 91-211 (October 1991): PDF.
• Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study (1993), "Politics of reconciliation": text.