THE HISTORY OF SOMALI NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Mujaahid , Aniis Abdillahi Essa

In April 6, 1981 a group of ISAAQS emigrant living in London formed the Somali National  Mo vement {SNM}, which subsequently become the strongest of Somalia's movement.

The SNM wanted to overthrow Siad Barre's dictatorship. Additionally, the SNM advocated a mixed economy and a neutral foreign policy, rejecting alignment with the Soviet Union or th e United States and calling for the dismantling of all foreign military bases in the region. In the late 1980's the SNM adopted a pro-western foreign policy and favored United States  in volve ment in a post-Siad Barre in Somalia. Other SNM objectives included establishment of a  repre sentative democracy that would guarantee human rights and freedom of speech. Eventually, the SNM moved its headquarter from London to Addis-Ababa to obtain Ethiopian Military  assi stance with initially was limited to old soviet small arms.

In October 1981, the SNM rebels elected Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid and Ahmed Ismail Abdi as  ch airman and secretary general, respectively, of the movement. Gulaid had participated in  Nort hern Somali political until 1975, when he went into exile in Djibouti and then in Saudi Ar abia. Abdi had been politically active in the city of Burao in the 1950's and from 1965 to 196 7 had served as the Somali government's minister of planning. After the authorities jailed him in 1971 for antigovernment activities, Abdi left Somalia and lived in East Africa and Sa udi Arabia. The SNM also elected an eight man executive committee to oversee the SNM'S military and political activities.

On January 2, 1983 the SNM launched its first military operation against the Somali  govern m ent. Operating from Ethiopian bases, commando units attached Mandera Prison near Berb era and freed a group of Northern dissidents. That assault liberate more then 700 political  prison ers; subsequent independent estimates indicated that only about a dozen governme nt  oppo nents escaped. At the same time, other commando units raided the Cadaadley ar mory near Hargeisa, and escaped with an undetermined amount of arms and ammunition. Mogadisho  res ponded to the SNM attacks by declaring a state of emergency, imposing a curfew, closing  gas oline stations to civilian vehicles, banning movement in out of Northern Somalia, and launching a search for the Mandera prisoners { most of whom were never fou nd}.

On January 8, 1983 the Somali government also closed its border with Djibouti to prevent the SNM from fleeing Somalia. These actions failed to stop SNM military activities. On Octob er  1983, The SNM tried to increase pressure against the Said Barre's regime by forming a joint military committee with the SSDF. Apart from issuing antigovernment from the former Radio Kulmis station, now known as Radio Halgan ( struggle ).
Despite this political cooperation, the SNM and SSDF failed to agree on common strategy against Mogadisho. As result, the alliance languished.

In February 1983, Siad Barre visited Norther Somalia in a campaign to discredit the SNM. Among other things, he ordered the release of numerous civil servants and businessmen who had been arrested for antigovernment activates, lifted the state of emergency, and  annou nced amnesty for Somali exiles who wanted to return home. There tactics put the SNM on the political defensive for several months. In November 1983, the SNM central comm ittee sough to regain the initiative by holding an emergency meeting to formulate a more ag gressive  str ategy. One outcome was that the military wing--headed by Abdulqadir Kosar Abdi---assumed control of the central committee by ousting the civilian membership from all positions of  pow er, however in July 1984, at the fourth SNM congress, held in Ethiopia, the civilians regained control of the leadership. The delegates also elected Ahmed Mohamed Mo hamoud " Silaanyo" SNM chairman and reasserted their intention to revive the alliance with the SSDF.

After the fourth SNM congress adjourned, military activity in Northern Somalia increased. SNM commandos attached about a dozen government military posts in the vicility of Harge isa, Bur ao, and Berbera. According to the SNM, the Somali Military responded by shooting 300 people at a demonstration in Hargeisa, sentencing Seven youth to death for sedition, and arresting an unknown number of rebel sympathizer. In January 1985, the Somalian gov ernment  exec uted twenty eight people in relation for antigovernment activity. Between June 1985 and  Feb ruary 1986, the SNM have carried out of thirty operations against gove rnment forces in  nort hern Somalia. In addition, the SNM reported that it had killed 476 gov ernment soldiers and wounded 263, and had captured eleven vehicles and had destroyed another twenty two, while losing only thirty-eight mujahid and two vehicles.

Despite efforts to isolate the rebels, the SNM continued military operations in northern So malia. Between July and September 1987, the SNM initiated approximately thirty attacks, including one on the northern capital, Hargeisa; none of these, however, they weakened the government's control of northern Somalia. A more dramatic event occurred when an SNM unit kidnapped a Medicines Sans Frontiers Medical aid team of ten Frenchmen and one Djiboutian to draw world's attention to Mogadisho's policy of impressing men from refuge camps into the SNM. After ten days, the SNM released the hostages unconditionally. Siad Barre responded to these activities by instituting harsh security measures throughout nort hern Somalia. The government also evicted suspected pro-SNM nomad communities from the Somali-Ethiopian border region. These measures failed to contain the SNM. By February 1988, the SNM had captured three villages around Tog-Wajaaleh refugees camp, near the northwestern Somali-Ethiopian border.

Following the rebel successes of the 1987-88, Somali-Ethiopian relations began to improve. On March 19, 1988, Siad Barre ( Af-bahal) and Ethiopian president Mengistu Haile Mariam met in Djibouti to discuss ways to reducing tension between the two countries. Although little was accomplished, the two agreed to hold further talks. At the end on March 1988, the Ethiopian minister of foreign Affairs, Berhanu Bayih, arrived in Mogadisho for discussio ns with a group of Somali officials headed by General Ahmed Mohamoud Farah. On april 4, 1988 the two  pres ident signed a joint communiqué in which they agreed to restore diplom atic relations, excha nge prisoners of war, star a mutual withdrawal of troops from the bor der area, and end subversive activities and be stile propaganda against each other.

Faced with a cutoff of Ethiopian military assistance, the SNM had to prove its ability to  oper ate as an independent organization. Therefore, in late May 1988 SNM units moved out of their Ethiopian base camps and launched a military campaign in 1988, capturing Burao on May 27, and part of Hargeisa on May 31. Government forces bombarded the twons heavily in June, forcing the SNM to withdraw and causing more than 1.5 million Isaaqs to flee to Ethi opia. The Military regime conducted savage reprisals against the Isaaqs, destruction of wat er wells and grazing grounds and raping of women. An estimated 10,000 Isaaqs were killed between May 27, and the end of December 1988. About 8,000 died in the fighting, bout 2,0 00 including women and children were alleged to have been bayoneted to death.

The SNM temporarily occupied the provincial capitals of Burao and Hargeisa. These early  su cc esses bolstered the SNM'S popular support, as thousands of Isaaq clan members and SN A ( Somali National Army) deserters joined the SNM. Over the nest few years, the SNM took control of almost all of northwestern Somalia and extended its area of operations about fift y kilometers east of Erigavo. With Ethiopian military assistance no longer a factor, the SN M'S success depended on its ability to capture weapons from the Somali army. The SNM seiz ed numerous vehicles weapons from the Somali army. The SNM seized numerous vehicle s such as Toyota Land Cruisers from government forces and subsequently equipped them wi th light and medium weapons such as 12.7mm and 14.5mm machine guns, 106mm recoill ess rifles and BM-21 rocket launchers. The SNM possessed antitank weapons such as soviet b-10 tubes and RBG-7s. For air defense the SNM operated soviet 30mm and 23mm guns, sev eral dozen soviet -ZU2.

To weaken Said Bare's regime further, the SNM encouraged the formation of other clan-bas ed insurgent movements and provided them with political and military support. In particular, the SNM maintained close relations with the United Somali Congress (USC), which was active in central Somalia, and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), which operated in southern  S oma lia. Both these groups fought to overthrow Siad Barres's regime and establish a democ ratic form of government

By the beginning of 1991, all three of the major rebel organizations had made significant  mil it ary progress. The SNM had all but taken control of northern Somalia by capturing the tow ns of Hargeisa, berbera, burao and erigavo. On January 26, 1991, the USC stormed the pre sident palace in Mogadisho, thereby establishing its control over the capital . The SPM succ eeded in overrunning several government outposts in southern Somalia.

The SNM-USC-SPM unification agreement failed to last after Siad Barre fled Mogadisho. On  Jan uray 26, 1991 the USC formed an interim government, which the SNM refused to recog nize. On May 18, 1991 the SNM declared the Independence of the Republic of Somaliland . Somalian Pro veb says " Dad waa nin abaal gutiyo, nin loo abaal gudo" in English says " Peopl e are rewarde d by deeds rather then by words". Another Proverb says " Gobanimo la hanti yey laguma ciya aro" in English " Freedom is to give not to take".

A singer, musician, and composer of lyrics who was active in the 1970s said ( Ayaan daran aa dhulkaygu, aqoon daranaa dadkiisu, Ilaahay markuu wax siiyey ilowsha dhowaa sabool ku) his name was Ahmed Muhumed good " Shimbir"

Sidii hore loo yidhi Nabad iyo caano ----peace and milk…." Waa la doogiye yaan la dacaroon"