# 2000–2006: Transitional governments and the rise of the courts

> How Somalis rebuilt without a central state, 2000–2006: the local peacemaking, the talks and the governments of the period.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/rebuilding-2000-2006/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

- **2 May – 27 Aug 2000.** Arta (Djibouti) conference: 2,000–3,000 delegates, including clan elders, civil society, women (the "Sixth Clan"), religious leaders, business and diaspora. Elders chose 810 delegates for stage two. Transitional Charter: 245-seat assembly with 25 seats for women, allocated by 4.5 (44 seats to each of four clan families, 24 to "0.5" communities; RVI counts 225 plus 25 women). Abdiqasim Salad Hassan becomes TNG president. **Actors:** Djibouti (Guelleh); civil society; elders **What it meant for unity:** First conference built on elders and civil society rather than armed leaders. 4.5 is formalised. Armed faction leaders stay away and the RRA later withdraws its support Source: [B35](https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-somalia-2000-en.pdf); [B2](https://riftvalley.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Role-of-4.5-in-democratisation-and-governence-in-Somalia_EN_4.5_WEB.pdf); [B27](https://africaportal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mediation_Efforts_in_Somalia.pdf)
- **2000–2004.** TNG never gains authority beyond part of Mogadishu. Underrepresented groups form the Ethiopian-backed SRRC. Business backs the TNG at first. **Actors:** TNG; SRRC; Mogadishu business **What it meant for unity:** A national government exists on paper but cannot extend its rule Source: [B27](https://africaportal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mediation_Efforts_in_Somalia.pdf); [B35](https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-somalia-2000-en.pdf); [B30](https://archive.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Aisha-Ahmad-The-Security-Bazaar.pdf)
- **31 May 2001.** Somaliland constitutional referendum: about 1.18 million votes, about 97% yes. It affirms independence and a multiparty system and makes the Guurti the upper house. **Actors:** Somaliland; Egal administration **What it meant for unity:** Separation from Somalia is ratified by popular vote, and the elders' council is built into the constitution Source: [B37](https://participedia.net/case/5117)
- **2001.** Puntland term dispute: elders appoint a caretaker, and Jama Ali Jama is elected (Nov 2001). Abdullahi Yusuf rejects the result. Local journalists estimate close to 400 deaths. **Actors:** Puntland elders; Abdullahi Yusuf; Jama Ali Jama **What it meant for unity:** Puntland's early consensus politics is strained. Its first years (1998–2001) had brought a parliament, a tax system, courts and independent media Source: [B26](https://www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/b64-somalia-the-trouble-with-puntland.pdf)
- **2001.** US closes al-Barakat, which handled about half of all remittances and was the largest private employer. Investigations cited by The EastAfrican found no terror link. **Actors:** US government; al-Barakat **What it meant for unity:** Shows how far Somali livelihoods depended on stateless private finance Source: [B28](https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/1024802/-/oo5m22z/-/index.html)
- **2001–2005.** Somaliland: constitutional referendum (2001), local elections (2002), presidential election (2003), parliamentary election (2005). **Actors:** Somaliland institutions **What it meant for unity:** A sequence of elections in the north Source: [B8](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/58088/1/final_report-final_2010_04_12.pdf)
- **Oct 2002 – Oct 2004.** IGAD-led Somali National Reconciliation Conference (Eldoret, then Mbagathi), with Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti as the technical committee. Eldoret Declaration (27 Oct 2002). Transitional Federal Charter (23 Feb 2004): federal structure, 275 MPs chosen by clan leaders using 4.5, 12% women's quota. MPs sworn in 22 Aug 2004; Abdullahi Yusuf elected president 10 Oct 2004. Asha Haji Elmi becomes the first woman to sign a Somali peace agreement. **Actors:** IGAD; Kenya; Ethiopia; Djibouti; clan leaders; Sixth Clan **What it meant for unity:** Federalism enters the founding charter. HD Centre notes a narrow clan coalition and a perception of Ethiopian clientage, and Mogadishu opposition blocked the TFG's relocation Source: [B34](https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-somalia-2002-2004-en.pdf); [B27](https://africaportal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mediation_Efforts_in_Somalia.pdf)
- **2004–2006.** Mogadishu sub-clan courts merge into the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), and their militias form al-Shabaab (founded c.2004–05). **Actors:** Courts; clerics; business; al-Shabaab **What it meant for unity:** Courts move from clan-level to city-wide organisation Source: [B30](https://archive.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Aisha-Ahmad-The-Security-Bazaar.pdf); [B31](https://ctc.westpoint.edu/somalias-new-government-and-the-challenge-of-al-shabab/); [B32](https://africanarguments.org/2013/04/review-al-shabaab-in-somalia-the-history-and-ideology-of-a-militant-islamist-group-2005-2012-by-magnus-taylor/)
- **2005.** "People power" campaign removes militia roadblocks in Mogadishu. **Actors:** Mogadishu civic groups **What it meant for unity:** Citizens' collective action for security Source: [B11](https://merip.org/2007/02/there-and-back-again-in-somalia)
- **Early–Jun 2006.** The US-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) is blamed by clansmen for lawlessness. The ICU defeats the ARPCT leaders in Mogadishu in June 2006. **Actors:** ICU; ARPCT; US **What it meant for unity:** First single authority over Mogadishu since 1991 Source: [B11](https://merip.org/2007/02/there-and-back-again-in-somalia); [B30](https://archive.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Aisha-Ahmad-The-Security-Bazaar.pdf)
- **Jun–Dec 2006.** The ICU disarms clan militias, reopens the seaport and airport and makes the streets safer. Business finance was significant: in Hansen's 2007 survey, 69% of businesses said they contributed. Within six months the ICU controls about 90% of the countryside. Many residents valued the calm but feared strict rules on women, media and civil society. **Actors:** ICU; business community; clan elders **What it meant for unity:** People backed the courts mainly for security, at a lower and cross-clan "price" of protection. Samatar (Chatham House) describes the ICU as a loose alliance of clan factions whose success reflected popular anger at the armed faction leaders, and notes that bans on cinemas, music and sport alienated many Source: [B11](https://merip.org/2007/02/there-and-back-again-in-somalia); [B30](https://archive.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Aisha-Ahmad-The-Security-Bazaar.pdf); [B42](https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/250407samatar.pdf)
- **24 Dec 2006.** Ethiopia launches a full offensive in support of the TFG, with what the press called "tacit support" from Washington. PM Meles says the aim is to protect Ethiopia's sovereignty and that troops will leave when the mission ends. The ICU calls the TFG a foreign "puppet". Al Jazeera reports Eritrea backing the ICU and earlier Arab League-mediated talks without lasting results. The ICU dissolves in Mogadishu, and Ethiopian and TFG forces enter the city at the end of 2006. **Actors:** Ethiopia; TFG; ICU; US; Eritrea; Arab League **What it meant for unity:** The TFG is installed in the capital by foreign force. Clan leaders, businesspeople and moderate Islamists had opposed the war Source: [B11](https://merip.org/2007/02/there-and-back-again-in-somalia); [B12](https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/somalia0807/); [B40](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/12/24/ethiopia-launches-attack-on-somalia)

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