History of Mogadishu

History of Mogadishu

Mogadishu (Somali: "Muqdisho", popularly "Xamar"; _ar. مقديشو "Unicode|Maqadīshū"; _it. Mogadiscio), is the largest city in Somalia, and its capital. Mogadishu was historically founded on trade, and has recently seen armed warfare since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991.

Medieval city-state

Trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area to other communities along the Indian coast as early as the first century AD according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. With Muslims traders from the Arabian Peninsula arriving circa AD 900, Mogadishu was well suited to become a regional centre for commerce. While the majority of the Somali coast is arid, the area around Mogadishu is more suitable to agriculture and could support a larger population. It is also the northernmost site in East Africa with a good natural harbour.

The northernmost of the East African city-states, Mogadishu prospered with trade with the interior, which spread Islam throughout Somalia. Beginning about 1000, trade increased among the Swahili cities of coastal East Africa. This trade drove the Mogadishu economy by the early 1100s. The origin of the name "Mogadishu" is unclear; one version claims it as the Somali version of the Arabic language and/or Persian name "maqad shah" (imperial seat of the shah). The historic Mosque of Fakr ad-Din, built 1269, still stands. Archaeological excavations have recovered many coins from China, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The majority of the Chinese coins date to the Song Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty "are also represented," [cite book
last =Pankhurst
first =Richard
title =An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia
publisher =Lalibela House
year =1961
location =London
id = ASIN B000J1GFHC
, p. 268
] according to Richard K.P. Pankhurst. The trading Zanj city-states of the Swahili civilization imported Arabic pottery, Chinese porcelain, and Indian cloth. They exported wood, ivory, shells, slaves, and iron. Kilwa, which dominated the gold trade from the Great Zimbabwe, ultimately eclipsed Mogadishu, Lamu, Zanzibar, and other northern cities after the 1200s.

Trading across the Arabian Sea enabled major ports like Mogadishu to prosper during the later Middle Ages. Ross E. Dunn describes Mogadishu and other East African Muslim settlements as "a kind of medieval America, a fertile, well-watered land of economic opportunity and a place of salvation from drought, famine, overpopulation, and war at home." [cite book
last =Dunn
first =Ross E.
title =The Adventures of Ibn Battuta
publisher =University of California
year =1987
location =Berkeley
pages =373
id = ISBN 0-520-05771-6
, p. 125
]

The abundance of food in Mogadishu around 1330 impressed visitor Ibn Battuta. He remarked that a single person "eats as much as a whole company of us would eat, as a matter of habit, and they are corpulent and fat in the extreme." [Dunn, p. 124]

Colonial Era

According to Duarte Barbosa the Portuguese visited the city but never succeeded in taking it. The sultan of Zanzibar occupied the city in 1871. Garesa Palace, [A photo of the Palace can be found at [http://www.swan.ac.uk/cds/rd/images/Scan56.jpgGaresa Palace] ] built in the late 1800s for the local administrator of the sultan, now houses a museum and library. When Mogadishu was visited by French traveller Charles Guillain in 1846-1848, Mogadishu was dependent on both the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the Somali Geledi Clan."

In 1892, the sultan of Zanzibar leased the city to Italy. Italy purchased the city in 1905 and made "Mogadiscio" (Italian for Mogadishu) the capital of Italian Somaliland. The surrounding territory came under Italian control in 1936 after heavy resistance.

British forces operating from Kenya during World War II captured and occupied Mogadishu. The capital of Italian Somaliland fell to the British forces on February 26, 1941. The British continued to rule until Italy returned in 1952 to administer their former Somali protectorate. Education advanced with the 1954 establishment of Somalia National University. Somalia achieved independence in 1960 with Mogadishu as its capital.

Collapse of government and UN intervention

Rebel forces entered and took the city in 1990, forcing President Mohammed Siad Barre to resign and flee in January 1991 to Lagos, Nigeria. One faction proclaimed Mohammed Ali Mahdi president, another Mohammed Farah Aidid. The Somalia National University, which enrolled 4600 students before the war, closed as the educational system soon collapsed.

Intense battling between these rivals and other clan-based rebel factions damaged many parts of Mogadishu in 1991-1992 and led to tens of thousands of casualties as an intense drought-induced famine ravaged rural Somalia.

A contingent of United States Marines landed near Mogadishu on December 9, 1992 to spearhead United Nations peacekeeping forces. The United Nations sought to capture warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in 1993 to enable the establishment of a transitional government. Somalis loyal to him ambushed the peacekeepers and killed 24 Pakistanis.

On October 3, 1993, the United States Army Rangers and the Army's Delta Force went on a mission to capture two of Aidid's warlords, which lead to the Battle of Mogadishu. Although the mission was successful, five American army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down during the battle (two in the city [Durant's "Super 64" and Wolcot's "Super 61"] and 3 at a safe area), causing about 100 United States Army Rangers and Delta Force operators to be pinned down in the city, trying to rescue survivors and recover the dead. In this Battle of Mogadishu, the Somalis killed 18, one soldier three days later in a mortar strike and 1 Malaysian soldier and injured several dozen. Estimates put the number of Somali casualties at 500-1000 militia and civilians dead and 3000-4000 injured. The later nonfiction books , In The Company Of Heroes, and motion picture "Black Hawk Down" dramatized the events of this battle.

With these casualties, United States President Bill Clinton withdrew American forces in 1994. Two factions in Mogadishu nevertheless reached a peace accord on January 16, 1994. Heavy fighting, however, intensified between numerous warlords and factions for control over the city after the March 3, 1995 withdrawal of the last international peacekeepers.

Mohamed Farrah Aidid declared himself president in June 1995 and by 1996 captured strategic neighborhoods in Mogadishu and some outlying territory. Rival militias renewed fighting in Mogadishu and Hoddur in 1996. Aidid ultimately died in July 1996 from gunshot wounds suffered in a street battle.

Mogadishu today

‎Excessive Isbaros and violence continued to rule Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia through the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the deaths of British Aid workers Dick and Enid Eyeington in 2003. Now clans have established territory for themselves and claim independence from the Republic of Somalia. All attempts to restore state order, by forming transitional governments while in exile, have failed.

Second Battle of Mogadishu

On 7 May 2006, fighting broke out between Islamist militias and an alliance of Somali warlords over control of Mogadishu. The opposing forces were the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), and militia loyal to the Islamic Court Union (ICU). The conflict began in mid-February, 2006, when Somali warlords formed the ARPCT to challenge the emerging influence of the ICU. It has been alleged that the United States has provided funding for the ARPCT due to concerns that the ICU has ties to al-Qaeda. [cite news
title =US cash support for Somali warlords 'destabilising nation'
publisher =New Zealand Herald, Reuters, The Independent
date =June 7 2006
url =http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385312
accessdate = 2007-01-08
] Most of the combat was concentrated in the Sii-Sii (often written "CC" in English) district in northern Mogadishu with both the Islamist militias and the secular warlords fighting for control of Mogadishu. On 5 June 2006, the ICU militia seized Mogadishu.

Fall of Mogadishu

While the ICU consolidated control over Mogadishu, a UN-supported Transitional Government remained undefeated in Baidoa, despite a series of military setbacks. An attempt by the ICU to capture Baidoa prompted a military intervention by Ethiopia in support of the Transitional Government starting December 21, 2006. On December 25 Ethiopian jets bombed Mogadishu's main airport held by the ICU since June. Witnesses reported MiG fighter jets fired missiles into the airport twice. One person was killed and a number injured. Further north, Beledweyne was also bombed, according to witnesses. [http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/12/25/somalia.jets.reut/index.html Ethiopia jets bomb Somalia airport] CNN] The fighting between the Ethiopian-backed TFG and the ICU became stretched to over 400km (250 miles) of land. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6208549.stm Ethiopia attacks Somalia airport] BBC]

Following a rapid advance, Ethiopian and pro-government militias surrounded Mogadishu. A spokesman stated that the troops would besiege the city but not attack it in order to avoid civilian casualties. [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-12-27T132048Z_01_L27499709_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOMALIA-CONFLICT-CAPITAL.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-2 Pro-govt troops to besiege Mogadishu: Somali envoy] Reuters] On December 27, reports stated that the ICU was abandoning the city. [http://somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/6219 Somalia: Islamists disappearing in the capital] SomaliNet] On December 28, 2006, pro-government militias claimed to have taken control of key locations, including the former presidential palace. [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-28T105403Z_01_L28593467_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOMALIA-CONFLICT-1.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-2 Somali govt close to taking Mogadishu] Reuters]

Battle of Mogadishu (2007)

In January 2007, an Islamic insurgency erupted in Mogadishu, targeting government and Ethiopian forces. A helicopter was shot down as battles engulf in the city on March 30, 2007. Two Ethiopian helicopters fired on a rebel stronghold before one was hit by a missile. In addition, Ethiopia told its forces had killed 200 insurgents in a two-day joint offensive with Somali troops against the Islamic Courts Union. [http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-03-30T175416Z_01_L30116300_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SOMALIA-CONFLICT.xml&WTmodLoc=HP-C3-World-4 Helicopter shot down as battles engulf Mogadishu] Reuters]

References


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