Jubaland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jubaland

Capital
(and largest city)

Kismayo

Government

President

Mohamud Ali Magan 2008-

Independence

From Somalia

Declared

1998

Ended by JVA

1999

Jubaland (Somali: Jubbaland) or Juba Valley (Somali: Dooxada Jubba), formerly Trans-Juba (Italian: Oltre Giuba), is the southwesternmost part of Somalia, on the far side of the Juba River (thus "Trans"-Juba), bordering on Kenya.

Total population of Jubaland is estimated at 1.3 million inhabitants. Its constituent administrative regions of Gedo, Lower Juba, and Middle Juba had estimated populations of 690,000, 400,000 and 240,000, respectively, in 2005.[1] The region has a total area of 87,000 km² (33,000 sq mi). The main city is Kismayo, on the coast near the mouth of the Juba.

The region has been the site of numerous battles in the ongoing Somali Civil War and was briefly declared independent in 1998–1999. As of early 2008, the region is under nominal control of the Somali Transitional Federal Government.

1 History
2 Sources and References

[edit] History

[edit] Precolonial history

Jubaland was ruled by the Arabian Sultanate of Muscat (now in Oman) from 1836 until 1861 when the new Sultanate of Zanzibar was split from Muscat and Oman and given control of its African territories .

[edit] British and Italian rule

On 7 November 1890, Zanzibar became a British protectorate and, on 1 July 1895, ceded all its coastal possessions in continental East Africa to its protector. Together with Zanzibar's other former possessions in the area, Jubaland became part of the British colony of British East Africa (present day Kenya)

Jubaland was ceded to Italy 29 June 1925, purportedly as a reward for joining the Allies in World War I and had a brief existence as the Italian colony of Trans-Juba (Oltre Giuba), under governor (16 July 1924 - 31 December 1926) Corrado Zoli (b. 1877 - d. 1951). It was incorporated into the neighboring colony of Italian Somaliland on 30 June 1926. The colony had a total area of 87,000 km² (33,000 sq mi), and in 1926 a population of 120,000.

[edit] Jubaland as part of Somalia

On 1 July 1960, Jubaland, along with the rest of Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, became part of the independent republic Somalia.

Some of the major recent history events of the Jubba Regions included internal migration after Somali Independence in 1960. The two Jubba regions were mainly inhabited by the Somali Ogaden and Marehan clans. The Somali military government established a resettlement program for people from the devastating 1974 famine which hit the northern Somalia and Ogaden region or Western Somalia.

The programme created farming communities in Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba regions. These settlements were named Dajuma, Kuntuwaareey and Sablaale. The ressetlment program was known as the "Danwadaagaha" or "Collective Duty." These new communities were mainly populated with northern tribes of Isaq and Dhulbahante. Ogaden subclans from drought prone and disputed Ogaden region took part of another resettlement progam in late 1978 to early 1979.

The Soviet Union which had strategic relations with Somalia used its army planes to airlift the drought-affected people of Hobyo and Caynaba and bring them to government-built village-camps in the Lower Jubba Region. Aside from the three main resettlement areas, which were in Dajuuma, Sablaale and Kuntuwaareey, Horogle, near Dajuuma, became the 4th largest settlement.

Horogle is a river-fed lake. Dajuma is in the Middle Jubba Region. Vast majority of the settlers in the mid 1970s, have returned to their former homes after they had re-established their lives and the economic lives for their individual families.

[edit] Somali Civil War

In December 1993, Mohammed Said Hersi's troops captured Kismayo, and awaited the departure of Belgian UN peacekeepers who were stationed there. His troops had taken advantage of the UN's preoccupation with Mohamed Farah Aidid and had rearmed and regrouped.^[1] Mohammed Said Hersi, supported by the Marehan clan, remained in control of Kismayo until 1999. In that period Hersi Morgan cooperated with his former enemies, the Majerteen of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Operating from Kismayo Mohammed Said Hersi was also active in the Kenyan border area . His militia rarely fought those of Siyad Hussein, Col. Omar Jess, Ahmed Hashi which also operated in this region. Instead, they devoted most of their energies to preying upon IDPs and refugees. The area around Dobley refugee camp earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous and violent places in the entire region; women gathering firewood in the bush were routinely raped by predatory militiamen, aid convoys were looted, and refugees subjected to extortion and shakedowns.^[2]

[edit] Declaration of independence

See also: Consolidation of states within Somalia (1998–2006)

After the SNF had split up between Marehan and other factions Hersi had lost his position as leader in that faction. He then joined the Somali Patriot Movement (SPM), which consisted of Darod tribe militias, the Rahanweyn Resistance Army, and the South Somali National Movement (SSNM).

Hersi Morgan was head of the self created entity called Jubaland between September 3, 1998—June 11, 1999. However he lost the territory to the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) under Ahmed Warsame in 1999 and only briefly recaptured Kismayo on 6-7 Aug 2001. The town remained in the hands of the JVA until 2006.

[edit] Juba Valley Alliance rule

Main article: Juba Valley Alliance

A separate administration under the Juba Valley Alliance (Isbahaysiga Dooxada Jubba or JVA) fought against General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan. The leader of the JVA is Colonel Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale, who later became Defense Minister for the TFG. The militia commander of the JVA is Col. Abdulahi Sheik Ismael Fara-Tag. JVA's senior security chief Ahmed Mohamed Gannow remains in Kismayo.

On June 18, 2001, an 11-member interclan council decided to ally the JVA with the newly establishing Transitional National Government (TNG).^[3]^[4]

On August 6, 2001, after 10 days of heavy fighting in a battle involving 40 technicals and 1,000 militiamen, the JVA moved north from Kismayo and took the town of Jilib from the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC).^[5] Through 2002, the JVA battled with the SRRC, which opposed the TFG, resulting in 6,000 refugees fleeing Bulo Hawa. In 2003, there were 15,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) accommodated in Kismayo. Fighting throughout southern and central Somalia resulted in 86,000 IDPs by 2004.^[6] Landmines were cited as a problem affecting the area due to the fighting between the JVA and SRRC.^[7]

Eventually the leader of the SRRC, Hussein Mohammed Farah Aidid, son of the late warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, settled his differences with the JVA and the TNG, and in 2004 became the Interior Minister in the new Transitional Federal Government, which succeeded the TNG.

[edit] Rise and fall of the Islamic Courts Union

See also: Juba Valley Alliance, Rise of the Islamic Courts Union (2006), and War in Somalia (2006-present)

In late August 2006, the Islamic Courts Union seized control of all of Lower and Middle Juba, including the key city of Kismayo, and established its own administration.

The JVA suffered the loss of Kismayo in September 2006 to an array of ICU forces with 130 technicals^[8]^[9], and further defeat during Islamic Court Union's takeover of the Juba Valley in October 2006.^[10]

The JVA ruled only in Gedo and suffered a number of defections and surrenders of their commanders and militias. However, in late December 2006 the JVA, now incorporated into the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), with the military support of Ethiopia, retook the Juba Valley. After the Battle of Baidoa (December 20–26), the JVA began to reassert control over the Juba Valley. On December 27, the ICU abandoned its positions at Salagle and Sakow, north of Bu'aale.^[11]

After their defeat at the Battle of Jilib north of the city, the ICU forces withdrew, and on January 1, 2007, Kismayo fell to the TFG and Ethiopian forces without armed conflict.

[edit] Stamps and postal history of Trans-Juba

Trans-Juba postage stamps of 1926.

Italy issued its first postage stamps for Jubaland on July 29, 1925, consisting of contemporary Italian stamps overprinted "OLTRE GIUBA" (Trans-Juba). The same process was followed for the Italian commemorative issues of the time - the "Victor Emmanuel" issue, the "St. Francis" issue. On April 21, 1926, Italy issued a set of seven stamps printed specifically for the colony, depicting a map of the territory and inscribed "COMMISSARIATO GENLE / DELL' OLTRE GIUBA", then on June 1 the omnibus Colonial Institute issue included a set inscribed "OLTRE GIUBA".

Only a couple of the higher values have more than a minimal price for collectors, although as usual for remote colonies of brief existence, genuine usages on cover are seldom seen.

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