The Somali Civil War

In short

The Somali Civil War "grew out of resistance to the military junta led by Siad Barre during the 1980s". Wikipedia gives its start as "1978/1981/1988/1991 (disputed)", and treats it as still going on (Wikipedia, "Somali Civil War").

This page is an overview. Each stage has its own page, linked below, with the full sources.

1978–1991: the fronts against Siad Barre

• The fronts. Four main armed movements fought the government: the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF, from 1978–81), the Somali National Movement (SNM, 1981), the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM, 1985) and the United Somali Congress (USC, 1989). See the armed movements, 1978–1991.
• Repression. The Library of Congress writes that Siad Barre "unleashed a reign of terror against the Majeerteen, the Hawiye, and the Isaaq", carried out by the Red Berets (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). See the 1986 presidential election for the power struggle of 1986.
• May 1988. The SNM attacked Burao and Hargeisa. The army answered with "massive aerial bombing... that damaged or destroyed virtually every building in Hargeysa" (Library of Congress). See the Isaaq genocide, 1987–1989.
• October 1990. SNM fighters had pushed government forces out of almost all of Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer and Sanaag (Library of Congress).
• December 1990 to January 1991. In "the final assault on Siad Barre's forces", fighters of the Abgaal wing of the USC fought in Mogadishu "without the assistance of either the SNM, the SPM, or the Habar Gidir faction of the USC" (Library of Congress). Siad Barre left the capital in January 1991. See the Siad Barre era.

1991–1995: collapse, famine and intervention

• A government no one shared. The USC named a provisional government in February 1991. Its allies said they had not been consulted. The SPM and SSDF drove USC forces out of Kismayo, and "violent clashes throughout March threatened to return the country to civil war" (Library of Congress).
• The north. In May 1991 the SNM announced the Republic of Somaliland. See the Burao conference and Somaliland's declaration.
• Mogadishu divided. Fighters of interim President Ali Mahdi Mohamed (Abgaal) and General Mohamed Farah Aidid (Habar Gidir) "engaged in open battle beginning in September" 1991. By the end of the year Aidid held the south of the city, with the port and airport, and Ali Mahdi the north. Both sides "used food as a weapon" (Library of Congress).
• Famine. The UN estimated "perhaps 300,000 people died since November 1991" (UN, UNOSOM I background).
• The UN and the US. UNOSOM I (1992–1993), the US-led UNITAF (1992–1993) and UNOSOM II (1993–1995) followed. The battle of 3–4 October 1993 in Mogadishu led the US to withdraw. See UNOSOM I, the UN and US intervention, 1992–1995 and the battle of Mogadishu, 1993.
• The rest of the 1990s. See the collapse, 1991–2000.

2000–2009: transitional governments, the Islamic Courts and Ethiopia

• Two governments. The Transitional National Government came out of the Arta conference in Djibouti in 2000, and the Transitional Federal Government out of the Kenya talks of 2002–2004. See the transitional governments, 2000–2012.
• 2006. The Islamic Courts Union took Mogadishu in June. Ethiopian forces entered in December. See the war in Somalia, 2006–2009.

2009 to now: al-Shabaab

Since 2009 the main fight has been between the government, backed by African Union troops, and al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab left Mogadishu on 6 August 2011, during a famine in which a later study estimated about 258,000 deaths, and it still holds large rural areas. See the war in Somalia, 2009 to now and al-Shabaab.

Who suffered?

• The Isaaq of the north-west, in the army's campaign of 1988–1989 (the Isaaq genocide).
• People in the famine zones of 1991–1992, an estimated 300,000 dead (UN), and of 2010–2012, about 258,000 dead (FSNAU, 2013).
• The people of Mogadishu, in the fighting of 1991–1992, in 1993, in 2006–2011, and in bombings since.
• Refugees. In 1992 the UN counted "almost one million Somalis" who had fled to neighbouring countries and elsewhere (UN, UNOSOM I background).

Sources differ

• When it began. Writers give 1978 (the SSDF rising), 1981 (the founding of the SNM), 1988 (the SNM offensive) or 1991 (the fall of Siad Barre) (Wikipedia).
• Somaliland. Somaliland's government holds that the 1960 union was revoked in May 1991. The federal government holds that Somaliland is part of Somalia. See Somalia and Somaliland, 1991 to 2026.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study (1993): "Siad Barre's repressive measures", "Politics of reconciliation", "Politics of succession", "Politics of disintegration", "Foreign relations".
• UN Peacekeeping, UNOSOM I: background: text.
• FSNAU and FEWS NET, mortality study, 2010–2012 (May 2013): PDF.