124-638: The Somali National Front ( SNF ) ( Somali : Dhaqdhaqaaqa Jabhada Soomaliyeed ) was a politico-military organization that operated in southern Somalia during the Somali Civil War and represented one of the major factions involved in the conflict. After its creation following the collapse of President Siyaad Barre's government in 1991, the SNF was largely made up of most of the Somali National Army . The SNF would eventually merge into
248-747: A Latin orthography as the official national alphabet over several other writing scripts that were then in use. Concurrently, the Italian -language daily newspaper Stella d'Ottobre ("The October Star") was nationalized, renamed to Xiddigta Oktoobar , and began publishing in Somali. The state-run Radio Mogadishu has also broadcast in Somali since 1951. Additionally, other state-run public networks like Somaliland National TV , regional public networks such as Puntland TV and Radio and, as well as Eastern Television Network and Horn Cable Television , among other private broadcasters, air programs in Somali. Somali
372-432: A Somali National Movement (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988. The bombardment was led by General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan , Barre's son-in-law, and resulted in the deaths of 50,000 people in the north. After fallout from the unsuccessful Ogaden campaign, Barre's administration began arresting government and military officials under suspicion of participation in the 1978 coup d'état attempt . Most of
496-501: A "clannism" ideology and abandoned his "socialist facade" to hold onto power. A 120,000 strong army was built for internal repression of the public and to encourage rural clan based conflicts in addition to urban clan directed massacres by specialised armed forces. Barre also singled out the Isaaq clan for a "neo-fascist" type punishment resulting in a "semi-colonial" type subjugation which fuelled collective self assertion to supporters of
620-634: A breakaway faction within the SNF in conflict with the original SNF led by General Omar Haji, which Ethiopia had previously supported against AIAI and the Islamic courts. That same year, the SNF would entirely lose control of Gedo region when a military coalition united under the banner of the Allied Somali Force (later named the Jubba Valley Alliance ) launched an offensive in the area. In June 2001, SNF would merge into
744-667: A child and orphan by the age of 10, attended the elementary school in the town of Lugh (Luuq) in the Gedo Region, formally known as the Upper Jubba Region. He acquired the usual grounding in Islam at a qur'anic school there. In 1941, Mohammed, aged twenty, joined the police force which was then under the authority of the British military, who occupied it since the initiation of World War II hostilities. Mohammed's career in
868-551: A contorted position, electric shocks, rape of woman prisoners, simulated executions and death threats." In September 1970, the government introduced the National Security Law No. 54, which granted the NSS the power to arrest and detain indefinitely those who expressed critical views of the government, without ever being brought to trial. It further gave the NSS the power to arrest without a warrant anyone suspected of
992-521: A crime involving "national security". Article 1 of the law prohibited "acts against the independence, unity or security of the State", and capital punishment was mandatory for anyone convicted of such acts. From the late 1970s, and onwards Barre faced a shrinking popularity and increased domestic resistance. In response, Barre's elite unit, the Red Berets ( Duub Cas ), and the paramilitary unit called
1116-772: A foothold in Somalia again. Around the same period fighting broke out in the Galkayo region between the Aidid's SNA and the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) led by Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed . In response, SNF forces under the command of Morgan entered the Galguduud region to support the SSDF. At around the same time fighting broke out between Morgan's forces at the strategic port city of Kismayo and
1240-431: A halt to this apparent degeneration. The majority were hopeful to see these rumours bear fruit, as the support they had for the venal government was diminishing by the hour. In the early hours of 21 October 1969, when the members of the parliament finally decided to present the presidency to the highest bidder, Haji Muse Bogor, military troops aided by armored cars in the major cities of Somalia to occupy key positions. Before
1364-423: A hundred parties in Somalia and a parliament of not even two hundred members, served solely to demonstrate in the most convincing of manner that the models of colonial countries transferred to Africa serve only the new-colonial purposes of said countries, and not certainly to develop forms of democracy in keeping with African realities." (Barre, 1971) On 24 October, in a broadcast speech, General Siad Barre explained
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#17327652255671488-532: A life-threatening automobile collision near Mogadishu, when the car that was transporting him smashed into the back of a bus during a heavy rainstorm. He was treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries, broken ribs and shock over a period of a month. Lieutenant General Mohammad Ali Samatar , then vice-president , subsequently served as de facto head of state for the next several months. Although Barre managed to recover enough to present himself as
1612-652: A major drought referred to as the Abaartii Dabadheer ("The Lingering Drought") occurred in the northern regions of Somalia. The Soviet Union, which at the time maintained strategic relations with the Barre government, airlifted some 90,000 people from the devastated regions of Hobyo and Aynaba . New settlements of small villages were created in the Jubbada Hoose ( Lower Juba ) and Jubbada Dhexe ( Middle Juba ) regions, with these new settlements known as
1736-407: A new successor. Several members of the parliament recommended that a candidate belonging to the same sub-clan as the assassinated president should inherit the post. It was suggested that Haji Muse Bogor, a Mogadishu businessman and close relative of the assassinated president, be elected, methodology that opposed the very constitution of the newly founded state. Others members simply sold their votes to
1860-517: A non-aggression pact between Tanzania and Uganda . For his actions, a road in Kampala was named after Barre. On 17 and 18 October 1977, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 to Mogadishu, holding 86 hostages. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Barre negotiated a deal to allow a GSG 9 anti-terrorist unit into Mogadishu to free
1984-493: A prominent 40,000-entry Somali dictionary. Most of the terms consisted of commonly used nouns. These lexical borrowings may have been more extensive in the past since a few words that Zaborski (1967:122) observed in the older literature were absent in Agostini's later work. In addition, the majority of personal names are derived from Arabic. The Somali language also contains a few Indo-European loanwords that were retained from
2108-423: A reputation for excellence under the exceptional leadership of Brigadier Generals Barre and Daud Abdulle. A remarkable impact was the successful integration of the former British and Italian-trained units, thereby outpacing the civilian attempts to integrate. Both the police and the military, especially the military, engaged in self-help schemes, something the civilian authorities did not attain. Considerably important
2232-486: A result, a relatively effective governing administration was established in the region. The SNF's political leadership, led by former Defense Minister General Omar Haji Masallah , was based in Nairobi , Kenya , while the military wing was led by General Mohammed Hashi Ghani based in the city of Luuq , Gedo. The organization would be consistently represented at all major national reconciliation and peace conferences over
2356-683: A second agreement were both cancelled by the mid-1980s, as the Somali army refused to accept a proposed 60 percent cut in military spending. New agreements were made with the Paris Club , the International Development Association and the IMF during the second half of the 1980s. This ultimately failed to improve the economy which deteriorated rapidly in 1989 and 1990, and resulted in nationwide commodity shortages. In May 1986, President Barre suffered serious injuries in
2480-524: Is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral. Lamberti subdivides Northern Somali into three dialects: Northern Somali proper (spoken in the northwest; he describes this dialect as Northern Somali in the proper sense), the Darod group (spoken in the northeast and along the eastern Ethiopia frontier; greatest number of speakers overall), and
2604-448: Is a tonal language, whereas Banti (1988) suggests that it is a pitch system. The syllable structure of Somali is (C)V(C). Root morphemes usually have a mono- or di-syllabic structure. Clusters of two consonants do not occur word-initially or word-finally, i.e., they only occur at syllable boundaries. The following consonants can be geminate: /b/, /d/, /ɖ/, /ɡ/, /ɢ/, /m/, /n/, /r/ and /l/. The following cannot be geminate: /t/, /k/ and
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#17327652255672728-522: Is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, Lowland East Cushitic in addition to Afar and Saho . Somali is the best-documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of the language dating back to the late 19th century. The Somali language is spoken in Somali inhabited areas of Somalia , Djibouti , Ethiopia , Kenya , Yemen and by members of
2852-597: Is not marked, and front and back vowels are not distinguished. Writing systems developed in the twentieth century include the Osmanya , Borama and Kaddare alphabets , which were invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid , Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur and Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare , respectively. Several digital collections of texts in the Somali language have been developed in recent decades. These corpora include Kaydka Af Soomaaliga (KAF), Bangiga Af Soomaaliga,
2976-481: Is rarely pronounced as a velar fricative, Partially the reason why is that it is mostly found in Arabic loanwords. It is pronounced as the phoneme χ when it is an allophone for the letter ⟨q⟩ in syllabic codas. As in A kh ri from A q ri meaning (read). Pitch is phonemic in Somali, but it is debated whether Somali is a pitch accent , or it is a tonal language . Andrzejewski (1954) posits that Somali
3100-584: Is recognized as an official working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Although it is not an official language of Djibouti , it constitutes a major national language there. Somali is used in television and radio broadcasts, with the government-operated Radio Djibouti transmitting programs in the language from 1943 onwards. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation also broadcasts in the Somali language in its Iftin FM Programmes. The language
3224-513: Is recorded to be the city of Garbahare , which is a part of the provincial capital of the Gedo region of Somalia. Mohammed was born to a Marehan father and Ogaden mother of the greater Darod clan. The colonial powers prevented ethnic Somalis born outside the two protectorates (Italian and British) from conscribing into their respective territorial forces. By concealing his unofficial birthplace like many others, it enabled him to be eligible for
3348-467: Is similar to the stem alternation that typifies Cairene Arabic . Somali has two sets of pronouns: independent (substantive, emphatic) pronouns and clitic (verbal) pronouns. The independent pronouns behave grammatically as nouns, and normally occur with the suffixed article -ka/-ta (e.g. adiga , "you"). This article may be omitted after a conjunction or focus word. For example, adna meaning "and you..." (from adi - na ). Clitic pronouns are attached to
3472-718: Is spoken in the Somali territories within North Eastern Kenya , namely Wajir County , Garissa County and Mandera County . The Somali language is regulated by the Regional Somali Language Academy , an intergovernmental institution established in June 2013 in Djibouti City by the governments of Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia. It is officially mandated with preserving the Somali language. As of October 2022, Somali and Oromo are
3596-607: The Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG). Somali language Somali ( / s ə ˈ m ɑː l i , s oʊ -/ sə- MAH -lee, soh- ; Latin script: Af Soomaali ; Wadaad : اف صومالِ ; Osmanya : 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 [af soːmaːli] ) is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken primarily in Greater Somalia , and by
3720-600: The 1990s . Although the SNF was primarily made up of members of the Marehan sub-clan of the Darod , it reportedly had significant support in the region, despite the presence of non-Darod and non- Somali minority groups in the Juba and Dawa river basins. Initially, the SNF had tried to use Siad Barre 's name and legacy to rally for support, but found that this was generally counterproductive to their efforts among Somalis outside
3844-638: The American and Belgian UN forces deployed there. Following a series of clashes with the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) in early 1994, a conference was organized by communities in the Gedo and Bay regions. The conference was attended by representatives of the SNF and the SDM, as well as a large number of community elders, clan leaders, and intellectuals from both regions. The purpose of
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3968-592: The Danwadaagaha or "Collective Settlements". The transplanted families were introduced to farming and fishing, a change from their traditional pastoralist lifestyle of livestock herding. Other such resettlement programs were also introduced as part of Barre's effort to undercut clan solidarity by dispersing nomads and moving them away from clan-controlled land. As part of Barre's socialist policies, major industries and farms were nationalised, including banks , insurance companies and oil distribution farms. By
4092-681: The Eastern Bloc and the Second World (except China and Romania ). The United States stepped in and until 1989, was a strong supporter of the Barre government for whom it provided approximately US$ 100 million per year in economic and military aid, meeting in 1982 with Ronald Reagan to announce the new relationship between the US and Somalia. In September 1972 Tanzanian -sponsored rebels attacked Uganda . Ugandan president Idi Amin requested Barre's assistance, and he subsequently mediated
4216-592: The Marehan to organize an armed defense for their survival. The Somali National Front (SNF) was founded shortly after the collapse of Somalia's central government. Initially, the SNF was composed largely of soldiers from the Somali National Army, whom were from the Marehan clan. The SNF received strong support from the Marehan clan, while other factions were backed by Ethiopia. The SNF provided refuge to other Darood clans fleeing from Mogadishu during
4340-681: The National Security Service including the Isaaq genocide , and the sharp decline of Somalia's economy. In 1991, Barre's government collapsed as the Somali Rebellion successfully ejected him from power, leading to the Somali Civil War and a massive power vacuum in its wake. Barre was forced into exile in Nigeria , where he died in 1995 on the way to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. Mohamed Siad Barre
4464-455: The Near East and South Asia (e.g. khiyaar "cucumber" from Persian : خيار khiyār ). Other loan words have also displaced their native synonyms in some dialects (e.g. jabaati "a type of flat bread" from Hindi: चपाती chapāti displacing sabaayad). Some of these words were also borrowed indirectly via Arabic. As part of a broader governmental effort of linguistic purism in
4588-587: The Ogaden War broke out after the Barre's government sought to incorporate the various Somali-inhabited territories of the region into a Greater Somalia, beginning with the Ogaden. The Somali national army invaded Ethiopia, which was then under communist rule of the Soviet-backed Derg , and was successful at first, capturing most of the territory of the Ogaden. The invasion reached an abrupt end with
4712-553: The Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, scientist Johann Maria Hildebrandt noted upon visiting the area that "we know from ancient authors that these districts, at present so desert, were formerly populous and civilised[...] I also discovered ancient ruins and rock-inscriptions both in pictures and characters[...] These have hitherto not been deciphered." According to the 1974 report for Ministry of Information and National Guidance, this script represents
4836-779: The Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG). Siad Barre escaped from his palace towards the Kenyan border in a tank. Many of the opposition groups subsequently began competing for influence in the power vacuum that followed the ousting of Barre's regime. In the south in particular, armed factions led by USC commanders General Mohamed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohamed clashed as each sought to exert authority over
4960-608: The Somali National Movement (SNM) , Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) , and the United Somali Congress (USC) , which were among the main forces that opposed Siad Barre and Marehan clan. The other Somali clans viewed the Marehan as loyalists of Siad Barre , given the Marehan clan's significant influence during his rule. As a result, the conflict against the Marehan clan was driven by both political and clan-based motivations, which led
5084-416: The Somali National Movement . By the mid-1980s, more resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration had sprung up across the country. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against those he perceived as locally supporting the guerrillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative center of Hargeisa ,
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5208-645: The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets . The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion . Emphasis was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its own accent on self-sufficiency, public participation and popular control, as well as direct ownership of
5332-530: The Somali army from the majority of the African armies that had become a personal machine available to the power struggles. Another factor that contributed to the detachment of what was raging in the political arena was the national awareness they developed after independence, which was basically the unity of the Somali country as its hinterland. This awareness gained strength by the evident corruption perpetrated by
5456-677: The Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. Somali is an official language in both Somalia and Ethiopia , and serves as a national language in Djibouti , it is also a recognised minority language in Kenya . The Somali language is officially written with the Latin alphabet although the Arabic script and several Somali scripts like Osmanya , Kaddare and the Borama script are informally used. Somali
5580-431: The Somali diaspora . It is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups and individuals in Somali majority regions. Somali is the most widely spoken Cushitic language in the region followed by Oromo and Afar . As of 2021, there are approximately 24 million speakers of Somali, spread in Greater Somalia of which around 17 million reside in Somalia. The language is spoken by an estimated 95% of
5704-610: The Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) declared it the Somali Democratic Republic 's primary language of administration and education. Somali was thereafter established as the main language of academic instruction in forms 1 through 4 , following preparatory work by the government-appointed Somali Language Committee. It later expanded to include all 12 forms in 1979. In 1972, the SRC adopted
5828-789: The Victory Pioneers carried out systematic terror against the Majeerteen , Hawiye , and Isaaq clans. The Red Berets systematically smashed water reservoirs to deny water to the Majeerteen and Isaaq clans and their herds. More than 2,000 members of the Majeerteen clan died of thirst, and an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 Isaaq were killed by the government. Members of the Victory Pioneers also raped large numbers of Majeerteen and Isaaq women, and more than 500,000 Isaaq members fled to Ethiopia. In January 1979 Barre ordered
5952-460: The means of production . While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was proclaimed to be Communist . A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, the politburo of Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and
6076-641: The Cushitic and Semitic Afroasiatic languages spoken in the Horn region (e.g. Amharic ). However, Somali noun phrases are head-initial, whereby the noun precedes its modifying adjective. This pattern of general head-finality with head-initial noun phrases is also found in other Cushitic languages (e.g. Oromo), but not generally in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Somali uses three focus markers: baa , ayaa and waxa(a) , which generally mark new information or contrastive emphasis. Baa and ayaa require
6200-418: The Darod. He had seen his father killed by Isaqs and the impression never left him. His clan straddled the British and Italian segments of Somalia, forming a minority in each. He was worried that the country could split in two and in either case, his clan, as a minority, would be shut out of power. He became an inspector of police and later went to Italy to attend a military academy. On his return, he rose through
6324-629: The Ethiopian side of the border; however did this not materialise since the SNM relocated to Northern Somalia in response to this agreement. During the first five years, Barre's government set up several cooperative farms and factories of mass production such as mills, sugar cane processing facilities in Jowhar and Afgooye , and a meat processing house in Kismayo . Another public project initiated by
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#17327652255676448-438: The Islamic courts appearing in southern Somalia. A sharia court established in Luuq District of Gedo region by Sheikh Mohamed A. Nuur in 1992 (with the blessing and support of the SNF) reportedly had more success than the courts appearing in Mogadishu at addressing lawlessness. Consequently Luuq district was considered to be one of the safest places in Somalia. Concerned with the sharia courts rising popularity and authority,
6572-402: The Italian colonial police force and military in Somalia. Barre's father and brother died when he was ten years old as a result of a raid by the Habr Yunis in the early 20th century, and this event is posited by some scholars to have deeply affected him. The Middle East monthly in their March 1991 issue stated: Barre came from a humble background, deeply rooted in the Marehan sub-clan of
6696-428: The Italian fascist colonial rule. He was given the childhood nickname Barre , referring to extrovertedness . Barre later on participated as a Zaptié in the southern theatre of the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1936. In 1946, Barre supported the Somali Conference ( Italian : Conferenza Somala ), a political group of parties and clan associations that were hostile to the Somali Youth League and were supported by
6820-434: The Latin nor Osmanya scripts accommodate this numerical switching. *the commas in the Osmanya number chart are added for clarity Siad Barre Mohammed Siad Barre ( Somali : Maxamed Siyaad Barre , Osmanya script : 𐒑𐒖𐒄𐒖𐒑𐒗𐒆 𐒈𐒘𐒕𐒛𐒆 𐒁𐒖𐒇𐒇𐒗 , Arabic : محمد زياد بري Muhammad Ziād Barīy ; c. 6 October 1909 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali military officer, politician and revolutionary who served as
6944-526: The Lower Juba group (spoken by northern Somali settlers in the southern riverine areas). Benadir (also known as Coastal Somali) is spoken on the central Indian Ocean seaboard, including Mogadishu . It forms a relatively smaller group. The dialect is fairly mutually intelligible with Northern Somali. The language has five basic vowels . Somali has 22 consonant phonemes . The retroflex plosive /ɖ/ may have an implosive quality for some Somali Bantu speakers, and intervocalically it can be realized as
7068-399: The Marehan clan. In 1991, a faction of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) broke away and merged with the SNF. Later, under General Omar Haji Masallah , the SNF achieved some of its major political goals by uniting the Marehan with other Darod clans led by General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan . Like Aidids SNA and Ali Mahdi's SSA, the SNF also began opposing the rising strength of
7192-408: The Ogaden War, triggering the Somali Rebellion and severing ties with the Soviet Union. Somalia then allied itself with the Western powers and especially the United States for the remainder of the Cold War , although it maintained its Marxist–Leninist regime and also drew close to China . Opposition grew in the 1980s due to his increasingly dictatorial rule, growth of tribal politics, abuses of
7316-460: The Ogaden. Control of Somalia was of great interest to both the Soviet Union and the United States due to the country's strategic location at the mouth of the Red Sea . After the Soviets broke with Somalia in the late 1970s, Barre subsequently expelled all Soviet advisors, tore up his friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and switched allegiance to the West , announcing this in a televised speech in English . Somalia also broke all ties with
7440-420: The SNF and the Ethiopian military collaborated to destroy the Gedo Islamic Court, resulting in an increase of inter-clan warfare in the region. On 10 August 1996 heavy fighting erupted near Kenya's border city of Mandera during clashes between Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) and the SNF, backed by Ethiopian Air Force helicopter gunships . While pursuing AIAI, SNF and Ethiopian forces had allegedly crossed
7564-414: The SNF was decisively defeated by Aidid's SLA forces, and former President Siad Barre fled from Somalia via the Kenyan border on 27 April. Later in the year, following the recent formation of the SNA led by Aidid, his prime rival, Ali Mahdi Muhammad of the Somali Salvation Alliance (SSA) began supporting the SNF in an attempt to create his own pan-clan alliance. In early 1993, the SNF began gaining
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#17327652255677688-561: The SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place. By that time, the moral authority of Barre's ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council had begun to weaken. Many Somalis were becoming disillusioned with life under military dictatorship. The regime was further weakened in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close and Somalia's strategic importance was diminished. The government became increasingly totalitarian , and resistance movements , supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration, sprang up across
7812-409: The Semitic Himyarite and Sabaean languages that were largely spoken in what is modern day Yemen —"there is an extensive and ancient relationship between the people and cultures of both sides of the Red Sea coast" Mire posits. Yet, while many more such ancient inscriptions are yet to be found or analyzed, many have been "bulldozed by developers, as the Ministry of Tourism could not buy the land or stop
7936-547: The Somali Web Corpus (soWaC), a Somali read-speech corpus, Asaas (Beginning in Somali) and a Web-Based Somali Language Model and text Corpus called Wargeys (Newspaper in Somali). For all numbers between 11 kow iyo toban and 99 sagaashal iyo sagaal , it is equally correct to switch the placement of the numbers, although larger numbers is some dialects prefer to place the 10s numeral first. For example 25 may both be written as labaatan iyo shan and shan iyo labaatan (lit. Twenty and Five & Five and Twenty). Although neither
8060-441: The Somali language, the past few decades have seen a push in Somalia toward replacement of loanwords in general with their Somali equivalents or neologisms . To this end, the Supreme Revolutionary Council during its tenure officially prohibited the borrowing and use of English and Italian terms. Archaeological excavations and research in Somalia uncovered ancient inscriptions in a distinct writing system . In an 1878 report to
8184-426: The Somali people's extensive social, cultural, commercial and religious links and contacts with nearby populations in the Arabian peninsula. Arabic loanwords are most commonly used in religious, administrative and education-related speech (e.g. aamiin for "faith in God"), though they are also present in other areas (e.g. kubbad-da , "ball"). Soravia (1994) noted a total of 1,436 Arabic loanwords in Agostini a.o. 1985,
8308-409: The Somali poems by Sheikh Uways and Sheikh Ismaaciil Faarah. The rest of the existing historical literature in Somali principally consists of translations of documents from Arabic. Since then a number of writing systems have been used for transcribing the Somali language. Of these, the Somali Latin alphabet , officially adopted in 1972, is the most widely used and recognised as official orthography of
8432-407: The Soviet Union's shift of support to Ethiopia, followed by almost the entire communist world siding against Somalia. The Soviets halted their previous supplies to Barre's regime and increased the distribution of aid, weapons, and training to the Ethiopian government, and also brought in around 15,000 Cuban troops to assist the Ethiopian regime. In 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of
8556-412: The Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place. Barre advocated the concept of a Greater Somalia ( Soomaaliweyn ), which refers to those regions in the Horn of Africa in which ethnic Somalis reside and have historically represented the predominant population, encompassing Somalia, Djibouti , the Ogaden in Ethiopia , and Kenya 's former North Eastern Province . In July 1977,
8680-405: The border and Mandera was inadvertently bombed three times during the battle resulting in the death of a Kenyan soldier. This would lead to the imposition of a curfew on the North Frontier District and the Kenya Defence Force being put on full alert. In the late 90s the SNF had fractured into pro and anti-Ethiopian factions. In 1999, Ethiopia made another incursion into Somalia in support of
8804-486: The capital. After fleeing Mogadishu on 26 January 1991 with his son-in-law General Morgan , Barre temporarily remained in Burdhubo , in southwestern Somalia, his family's stronghold. The former dictator fled in a tank filled with reserves from the Somali central bank . This included gold and foreign currency estimated to have been worth $ 27 million. From there, he launched a military campaign to return to power. He twice attempted to retake Mogadishu, but in May 1991
8928-520: The civil war. Following the collapse of the central government, the SNF successfully took control of five regions in Somalia Bay , Middle Juba , Gedo , Lower Shabelle , and Lower Juba . Their primary objective was to recapture the capital, Mogadishu . However, internal disputes within the SNF leadership ultimately prevented them from seizing Mogadishu from the Hawiye clan, which had become one of
9052-543: The colonial period. Most of these lexical borrowings come from English and Italian and are used to describe modern concepts (e.g. telefishen-ka , "the television"; raadia-ha , "the radio"). There are 300 loan words from Italian, such as garawati for "tie" (from Italian cravatta ), dimuqraadi from democratico (democratic), mikroskoob from microscopio , and so on. Additionally, Somali contains lexical terms from Persian , Urdu and Hindi that were acquired through historical trade with communities in
9176-435: The conference was to reconcile the SNF and the SDM and to unite the peoples of the two communities, and it was largely successful in achieving these goals. For most of the civil war, the SNF governed and conducted operations in the Gedo region of southern Somalia. In an effort to restore order in the area, the SNF supported the creation of an Islamic Sharia court to resolve disputes and a police force to maintain order. As
9300-465: The country gained its independence in 1960 as the Somali Republic . In the early 1960s, after spending time with Soviet officers in joint training exercises, Barre became an advocate of Soviet-style Marxist-Leninist government, believing in a socialist government and a stronger sense of Somali nationalism . In the late 1960s, the only governmental institution that seemed free from
9424-432: The country the Somali Democratic Republic and adopted scientific socialism . Barre spoke three languages, English , Somali and Italian . Barre's early rule was characterised by attempts at widespread modernization , nationalization of banks and industry, promotion of cooperative farms , a new writing system for the Somali language , and anti- tribalism . In 1976, the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party became
9548-639: The country's inhabitants, and also by a majority of the population in Djibouti. Following the start of the Somali Civil War in the early 1990s, the Somali-speaking diaspora increased in size, with newer Somali speech communities forming in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe. Constitutionally, Somali and Arabic are the two official languages of Somalia . Somali has been an official national language since January 1973, when
9672-528: The country's vanguard party. The following year Barre launched the Ogaden War against Ethiopia's Derg regime , supporting the Western Somali Liberation Front on a platform of Somali nationalism and pan-Somalism . Barre's popularity was highest during the seven months between September 1977 and March 1978 when Barre captured virtually the entirety of the Somali region. It declined from the late-1970s following Somalia's defeat in
9796-592: The country. This eventually led in 1991 to the outbreak of the civil war, the toppling of Barre's regime and the disbandment of the Somali National Army (SNA). Among the militia groups that led the rebellion were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of
9920-475: The countryside [were] subjected to summary killings, arbitrary arrest , detention in squalid conditions, torture, rape, crippling constraints on freedom of movement and expression and a pattern of psychological intimidation. The report estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 people were killed from 1988 to 1989." Amnesty International went on to report that torture methods committed by Barre's National Security Service (NSS) included executions and "beatings while tied in
10044-470: The crack of dawn, all the members of parliament, several politicians linked to tribal chiefs or foreign interests were arrested by the police, headed by General Jama Ali Korshel , backed the takeover and somehow played a subordinate role in the coup. The coup baffled many western observers who ignorantly saw Somalia as a remarkably stable and "democratic country". After all, the Somali armed forces, both in military and police had hardly ever tried to influence
10168-535: The current regime shared by the local populace and provided reasons for a new political vision, which had the clear plan of a profound change of course in Somalia that would be automatically linked with the people and their needs. Questioned whether the Armed Forces were ready for a coup d'état, General Siad remarked that the Somali Army considered itself exclusively "In the service of the people, not only for
10292-571: The defense of the frontiers, but to help its political, economic and social progress." (Unita, 1966) He then added, "whoever wants to keep the people in poverty and in ignorance is our enemy," thereby referring to the nepotistic and severely corrupted SYL administration. It can thus be said that the Somali Armed Forces formed its own character until it reached a stage of having a force that had deep-rooted democratic and progressive convictions, which they could step in at any time to provide
10416-534: The destruction". Besides Ahmed's Latin script, other orthographies that have been used for centuries for writing the Somali language include the long-established Arabic script and Wadaad's writing . According to Bogumił Andrzejewski , this usage was limited to Somali clerics and their associates, as sheikhs preferred to write in the liturgical Arabic language. Various such historical manuscripts in Somali nonetheless exist, which mainly consist of Islamic poems ( qasidas ), recitations and chants. Among these texts are
10540-478: The dominant factions in the city. These internal conflicts weakened the SNF's efforts and influence in the broader struggle for control in these Important regions. During those years, the Somali National Front (SNF) was considered the most powerful faction among the various armed groups operating at the time. They were well-equipped, utilizing weapons from the Somali National Army . The SNF's power
10664-402: The earliest written attestation of Somali. Much more recently, Somali archaeologist Sada Mire has published ancient inscriptions found throughout Somaliland . As much for much of Somali linguistic history the language was not widely used for literature, Dr. Mire's publications however prove that writing as a technology was not foreign nor scarce in the region. These piece of writing are from
10788-549: The earnings from seventy-five years' worth of banana exports. By 1978, manufactured goods exports were almost non-existent, and with the lost support of the Soviet Union the Barre government signed a structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the early 1980s. This included the abolishment of some government monopolies and increased public investment. This and
10912-462: The execution of ten sheiks who were arrested for their religious beliefs. The religious community had begun to exhibit opposition to Barre's furthered attempt to secularize Somalia. This egregious violation of freedom of speech was condemned by Amnesty International. Many Somalis believe this event was the tipping point that led to the state's eventual failure. After the Ogaden War, Barre adopted
11036-441: The flap [ɽ] . Some speakers produce /ħ/ with epiglottal trilling as / ʜ / in retrospect. /q/ is often epiglottalized . The letter ⟨dh⟩ is a retroflex flap when it is pronounced intervocalically, hence becoming the phoneme ( ɽ ): for example, Qu r aanjo (Ant) from Qu dh aanjo; But however, more often than not is the pronunciation of ɽ to the unretained-retroflex ɾ . The letter ⟨kh⟩
11160-400: The focused element to occur preverbally, while waxa(a) may be used following the verb. Somali loanwords can be divided into those derived from other Afroasiatic languages (mainly Arabic), and those of Indo-European extraction (mainly Italian). Somali's main lexical borrowings come from Arabic, and are estimated to constitute about 20% of the language's vocabulary. This is a legacy of
11284-471: The fricatives. Two vowels cannot occur together at syllable boundaries. Epenthetic consonants, e.g. [j] and [ʔ], are therefore inserted. Somali is an agglutinative language, and also shows properties of inflection . Affixes mark many grammatical meanings, including aspect, tense and case. Somali has an old prefixal verbal inflection restricted to four common verbs, with all other verbs undergoing inflection by more obvious suffixation. This general pattern
11408-566: The government was the Shalanbood Sanddune Stoppage: from 1971 onwards, a massive tree-planting campaign on a nationwide scale was introduced by Barre's administration to halt the advance of thousands of acres of wind-driven sand dunes that threatened to engulf towns, roads, and farmland. By 1988, 265 hectares (650 acres) of a projected 336 ha (830 acres) had been treated, with 39 range reserve sites and 36 forestry plantation sites established. Between 1974 and 1975,
11532-428: The highest bidder. As a result, a bidding war was initiated where corrupt candidates were bidding on the price of the presidency. Not surprisingly, Haji Muse Bogor was leading the group with a payment of 55,000 Somali shillings (approximately £4,000). In the eyes of the public, the subsequent days after the assassination of the president displayed total chaos. There were rumours that that the military would intervene to put
11656-418: The hostages. In January 1986, Barre and the Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam met in Djibouti to normalise relations between their respective countries. The Ethiopian-Somali agreement was signed by 1988 and Barre disbanded his clandestine anti-Ethiopian organisation the Western Somali Liberation Front . In return, Barre hoped that Mengistu would disarm Somali National Movement rebels active on
11780-427: The internationally recognized Transitional National Government of Somalia in 2001. After the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre's government in 1991, the Marehan clan formed an armed group called the Somali National Front (SNF). This group was established to protect their people, and clan interests in response to the rising opposition from other Somali clans . some Somali clans had formed before militias such as
11904-693: The literacy rate. Barre began a program of nationalising industry and land, and the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world , eventually joining the Arab League in 1974. That same year, Barre also served as chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU). In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place
12028-491: The local Italian settlers. The group presented a petition to the "Four Powers" Investigation Commission in order to allow that the administration of the United Nations Trust Territory could be entrusted for thirty years to Italy . Throughout much of his life, Mohammed Siad Barre dedicated himself to both formal and self-taught education whilst gradually advancing his prospective career. Mohammed, as
12152-421: The mid- to late-1970s, public discontent with the Barre regime was increasing, largely due to corruption among government officials as well as poor economic performance. The Ogaden War had also weakened the Somali army substantially and military spending had crippled the economy. Foreign debt increased faster than export earnings, and by the end of the decade, Somalia's debt of 4 billion shillings equalled
12276-581: The minister of information. On 15 October 1969, President Abdirashid Shermake was assassinated in Las Anod by a policeman whilst touring a drought stricken area of northern Somalia. At the time, Prime Minister Egal was on a state visit to the United States, and was in Las Vegas when the assassination was conveyed to him. Fearing that he would lose his position, he returned to Somalia to nominate
12400-414: The necessary change. Several patriotic intellectuals, who denounced both the civilian regime and the ruling class, made several pleas for an intervention of the Armed Forces. Amongst them was a journalist and a politician, Ismail Jimale, who directed the socialist newspaper La Tribunal . However, Jimale, a vehement critic, gave in when Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal invited him to form part of his cabinet as
12524-415: The next moment. He was said to have witnessed the murder of his own father when he was only ten years old during the turbulent year of 1921, when the clan conflicts instigated by Mohamed Abdulle Hassan were raging across the land.. Barre was reportedly forever after deeply marked by the murder of his father. He became sadistic.. In The History of Somalia Raphael Njoku says: According to his biographers, at
12648-523: The only Cushitic languages available on Google Translate . The Somali languages are broadly divided into three main groups: Northern Somali , Benadir and Maay . Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali. It is spoken by the majority of the Somali population with its speech area stretching from Djibouti , and the Somali Region of Ethiopia to the Northern Frontier District . This widespread modern distribution
12772-452: The people who had allegedly helped plot the putsch were summarily executed. However, several officials managed to escape abroad and started to form the first of various dissident groups dedicated to ousting Barre's regime by force. A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, Barre and the politburo of his Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party continued to rule. In October 1980,
12896-453: The plural of the masculine noun dibi ("bull") is formed by converting it into feminine dibi . Somali is unusual among the world's languages in that the object is unmarked for case while the subject is marked, though this feature is found in other Cushitic languages such as Oromo. Somali is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language. It is largely head final , with postpositions and with obliques preceding verbs. These are common features of
13020-832: The police force led him to the capital city, Mogadishu, to pursue his education both in the public and private sectors. In the 1940s he completed secondary school education. By 1950, when the British transferred their administration to Italy, Mohammed Siad had achieved the highest rank possible for an indigenous, that of chief police inspector. In 1952, he and several of his colleagues, including Hussein Kulmiye Afrah , Liiq-Liiqato, Shegow and Daud Abdulle , attended military academy in Italy where he chiefly studied politics and administration. Between 1950 and 1960, Mohammed Siad heavily pursued studies in languages, ultimately mastering Italian, English and Swahili. After finishing his course he
13144-414: The political class which increased their conviction that they were the only healthy and functioning force in the young Republic. The brief border war against Ethiopia in 1964 was fought under conditions of grave unpreparedness in where the army was cut off from its own lines whilst the government became more and more corrupt, which in turn provided food for resentment and hostility towards the regime that
13268-446: The politics of the post-independence governments. Nevertheless, when the military decided to step in, it was a response to the increasingly inept and corrupt regime, which not only aggravated the armed sector but the majority of the Somali population. Barre (June 1970) re-affirmed the sentiment of the masses when he described the very model of the post-independence regimes were based upon "the long period during which there have been over
13392-665: The precursor to the Somali National Alliance (SNA), another significant faction in the Somali Civil War that the SNF would come into direct conflict with. During this period the SNF suffered serious internal divisions. Two factions from within were in contention, one led by President Siad Barre and the other by Gen. Muhammad Hashi Gani. Tensions got to the point where both men openly denounced each other in front of television crews in March 1992. In April 1992
13516-461: The ranks quickly to become Commander. Author Mohamed Diiriye in his book Culture and Customs of Somalia, writes: Many who knew Barre from his boyhood and during his stint in the colonial police under the Italians were not that surprised. Barre was not a normal person; he was a psychopath whose mercurial spirit vacillated between raving hatred in one moment and words of praise and reconciliation
13640-657: The reason behind the take-over. Barre assumed the position of president of Somalia , styled the "Victorious Leader" ( Guulwade ), and fostered the growth of a personality cult with portraits of him in the company of Marx and Lenin lining the streets on public occasions. Barre advocated a form of scientific socialism based on the Qur'an and Marxism-Leninism, with heavy influences of Somali nationalism. The Supreme Revolutionary Council established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase
13764-440: The report highlights the widespread violations of basic human rights in the northern regions of Somalia. The report includes testimonies about the killing and conflict in northern Somalia by newly arrived refugees in various countries around the world. Systematic human rights abuses against the dominant Isaaq clan in the north was described in the report as " state sponsored terrorism " "both the urban population and nomads living in
13888-515: The sole presidential candidate for re-election over a term of seven years on 23 December 1986, his poor health and advanced age led to speculation about who would succeed him in power. Possible contenders included his son-in-law General Ahmed Suleiman Abdille, who was at the time the Minister of the Interior, in addition to Barre's vice-president Lt. Gen. Samatar. Part of Barre's time in power
14012-557: The state. The script was developed by a number of leading scholars of Somali, including Musa Haji Ismail Galal , B. W. Andrzejewski and Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for transcribing the Somali language, and uses all letters of the English Latin alphabet except p , v and z . There are no diacritics or other special characters except the use of the apostrophe for the glottal stop , which does not occur word-initially. There are three consonant digraphs : DH, KH and SH. Tone
14136-400: The tender age of 10, young Muhammad first witnessed the murder of his own father...The shock and impact of this life experience and the difficult circumstances of life as an orphan put a very deep scar in his psyche. It is from this difficult childhood that Barre developed a complex sense of cunning, sadism, insecurity, and vengeance. These behavioural traits were exacerbated and solidified under
14260-430: The third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 January 1991. Barre, the commander of the Somali National Army , became president of Somalia after the 1969 coup d'état that overthrew the Somali Republic following the assassination of President Abdirashid Shermarke . The Supreme Revolutionary Council military junta under Barre reconstituted Somalia as a one-party Marxist–Leninist communist state, renamed
14384-571: The unabated corruption and nepotism was the armed forces. Ninety percent of the pre-independence army were members of the Somali Youth League and Somali National League. During the colonial administration, the Somali police force was the first institution be Somalised and full command was handed over to the indigenous officers several years prior to independence. During the first decade of the Republic of Somalia , armed forces already had
14508-408: The verb and do not take nominal morphology. Somali marks clusivity in the first person plural pronouns; this is also found in a number of other East Cushitic languages, such as Rendille and Dhaasanac. As in various other Afro-Asiatic languages, Somali is characterized by polarity of gender , whereby plural nouns usually take the opposite gender agreement of their singular forms. For example,
14632-474: Was already incapable as well as impotent and dishonest. The conditions created for a political will to mature and expand were aimed at national renewal that was particularly aware of the sufferings and exploitation of the Somali population. In 1966, General Siad Barre, then head of the armed forces, gave an interview to the Italian newspaper L'Unità . During his interview, he outlined his dissatisfaction with
14756-593: Was born at a time when birth records were unknown in Somalia. Speculations have been cast upon his exact birth year ranging from 1909 to 1921; nevertheless, it is generally agreed that he was born to pastoral parents circa 1910. His unofficial birthplace is said to be in Las Ga'al, which is a district of the El-Gab region, presently known as Shilavo (Shilabo) in the Ogaden Region of Ethiopia. His official birthplace
14880-609: Was characterized by oppressive dictatorial rule, including persecution, jailing and torture of political opponents and dissidents. The United Nations Development Programme stated that "the 21-year regime of Siyad Barre had one of the worst human rights records in Africa." In January 1990, the Africa Watch Committee, a branch of Human Rights Watch organizational released an extensive report titled " Somalia A Government At War with Its Own People " composing of 268 pages,
15004-512: Was consequently forced to withdraw to the city of Bardera and parts of the Gedo region. However, in November 1991 to March 1992, the SNF advanced back into the territory it had lost months earlier, taking advantage of infighting among its opponents. This action prompted the creation of the opposing Somali Liberation Army (SLA), a military coalition composed of numerous rebel groups led by General Mohamed Farah Aidid . The SLA would later become
15128-501: Was further strengthened by the fact that many of its members were former national soldiers, giving them a strategic edge in terms of organization and military expertise over the other factions active in Somalia at that time. In March to April 1991, heavy fighting broke out between the United Somali Congress (USC) and SNF forces. The SNF lost control of Kismayo , one of Somalia's largest and most strategic cities, and
15252-515: Was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. In 1955, a year after completing his course in Rome he was awarded he position of police chief and subsequently assigned to the capital city, Mogadishu. By 1958 he reached the rank of major whilst being the head of the security forces, including the executive director of the Italian police. He also eventually became vice-commander of the Somali Army when
15376-444: Was the fact that the armed forces were never detached from the public. Highly imaginative public relations staging of traditional dances and drama, poetry and music competitions, sports activities and so forth, did much to give them positive public image, plus a reputation for dedication. Therefore, the public had an anticipated confidence that they would step in if constitutional processes and public were to break down. This distinguished
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