Mogadishu ( /ˌmɒɡəˈdɪʃuː/; Somali: Muqdisho, popularly حَمَر Xamar ; Arabic: مقديشو Maqadīshū; Italian: Mogadiscio, literally "The Seat of the Shah") is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital.
Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries.
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According to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, maritime trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area with other communities along the Indian Ocean coast as early as the 1st century CE, and the ancient trading power of Sarapion has been postulated to be the predecessor of Mogadishu. With Muslim traders from the Arabian Peninsula arriving circa 900 CE, Mogadishu was well-suited to become a regional center for commerce.
The name "Mogadishu" is held to be derived from the Arabic مقعد شاه Maq'ad Shah ("The seat of the Shah"), a reflection of the city's early Persian influence.[1]
For many years, Mogadishu stood as the pre-eminent city in the بلد البربر Bilad al Barbar ("Land of the Berbers"), which was the medieval Arabic term for the Horn of Africa.[2][3][4] Following his visit to the city, the twelfth century Syrian historian Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote that it was inhabited by dark-skinned Berbers, the ancestors of the modern Somalis.[5][6]
The Sultanate of Mogadishu developed with the immigration of Emozeidi Arabs, a community whose earliest presence dates back to the 9th or 10th century.[7] This evolved into the Muzaffar dynasty, a joint Somali-Arab federation of rulers, and Mogadishu became closely linked with the powerful Somali Ajuuraan State.[8]
By the time of the Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta's appearance on the Somali coast in 1331, the city was at the zenith of its prosperity. Batuta described Mogadishu as "an exceedingly large city" with many rich merchants, which was famous for its high quality fabric that it exported to Egypt, among other places.[9][10] He added that the city was ruled by a Somali Sultan who spoke both Somali and Arabic with equal fluency.[11]
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,"[12] according to Richard Pankhurst.
In 1416, Mogadishu sent ambassadors to pay tribute to the Ming dynasty. The Yongle Emperor dispatched Admiral Zheng He to return ambassadors to the Somali city, with Zheng He revisiting Mogadishu in 1430.[13][14]
In the Middle Ages Mogadishu along with other coastal Somali cities came under the Ajuuraan State's sphere of influence and experienced another Golden Age. Vasco Da Gama, who passed by Mogadishu in the 15th century, noted that it was a large city with houses of four or five storeys high and big palaces in its centre and many mosques with cylindrical minarets.[15] In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya sailed to Mogadishu with cloths and spices for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Barbaso also highlighted the abundance of meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on the coastal markets, which generated enormous wealth for the merchants.[16] Mogadishu, the center of a thriving weaving industry known as toob benadir (specialized for the markets in Egypt and Syria)[17] 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."[18] The Portuguese would later attempt to occupy the city, but never managed to take it. The Hawiye Somali, however, were successful in defeating the Ajuuraan State and bringing about the end of Muzaffar rule.[8] After entering Mogadishu, the Darandoolle quarrelled with the Ajuran. They quarrelled over watering rights. The Ajuuraan had decreed: ‘At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night’’…Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuran. They found the imam of the Ajuuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuuraan migrated out of the country.’
The Darandoolle became as such the first group to rebel against the tyranny of Ajuran in the interior, and ever since this Ajuuraan defeat other groups would follow in the rebellion which would eventually bring down Ajuran rule of the inter-riverine region.
After the defeat of the Ajuuraan in the interior, the Darandoolle Mudulood established themselves around Mogadishu and Shabelle river valley, in which Wacdaan inhabited the environs of Afgoye, Hilibi in Lower Shabelle, Moobleen went part of the region now known as Middle Shabelle, while the Mataan established themselves in and around Mogadishu city, where 1720 Mataan collected tax and port tariffs of the city, and emerged as the authority of Mogadishu city.[19][20]
By 1892, Mogadishu was under the joint control of the Somali Geledi Sultanate (which, also holding sway over the Shebelle region in the interior, was at the height of its power) and the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar.[21] In 1892, the sultan of Zanzibar leased the city to Italy. Italy later tried to purchase the city but couldn't succeed and in 1905 made Mogadiscio the capital of Italian Somaliland. In 1926, after a bloody repression by governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi, southern Somalia was fully pacified and started to enjoy a period of economic development. The Somali colonial troops called Dubats (and the gendarmerie Zaptié) were extensively used by De Vecchi in this military campaign.
In the early 1930s, the new Italian governors, Guido Corni and Maurizio Rava, started a policy toward a friendly assimilation of the Somalis and their clans. Many Somalis of Mogadishu were enrolled in the Italian colonial troops. Some thousands of Italian settlers moved to live in Mogadishu, which become a commercial centre with some small manufacturing companies, and in some agricultural areas around the capital (like the "Villaggio duca degli Abruzzi - Giohar" and "Genale").[22]
Mogadishu in the late thirties had become a cosmopolitan capital with new buildings and avenues such as the first avenue which they commemorated chief of the area Hassan Gedi Abtow. Also they did a connected 114 km railway to Jowhar and by a new-asphalted long road (called "Imperial Road") to Addis Ababa. 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 Somali Youth League formed in 1943 succeeded in uniting all Somali clans under its flag and led the country on the road to independence by drawing inspiration from the early 20th century Somali nationalist; Muhammad Abdullah Hassan and his Dervish Dream, as well as invoking the history of the medieval Somali empires and Kingdoms. SYL called for national unity and rejected clan divisions. Faced with growing Italian political pressure inimical to continued British tenure and to Somali aspirations for independence, the Somalis and the British came to see each other as allies. The situation prompted British officials to encourage the Somalis to form political parties. In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy.[23]
Somali nationalist agitation against the possibility of Italian rule reached the level of violent confrontation in 1948, when on the 11th of January, large riots broke out that left fifty-two Italians dead in the streets of Mogadishu and other coastal cities in which many more were injured. In Mogadishu a two-hour battle "with bullets, arrows, broken bottles and knives ensued during an SYL parade. During those clashes Hawo Tako participated, following the visit of the Four-Power Commission, where she eventually was killed.[24] She later became a symbol for Pan-Somalism, and the nationalist Somali Youth League, who proclaimed her a martyr. When in 1949 news reached Mogadishu that the UN General Assembly was discussing the possibility of the return of Italian rule, more violent riots broke out in the city. Despite this clear violent opposition to the return of Italian rule The United Nations opted in November 1949 to grant Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland, but only under close supervision and on the condition—first proposed by the SYL and other nascent Somali political organizations, that were then agitating for independence—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years.[25][26] The British continued to rule until Italy returned in 1950 to administer their former Somali protectorate. Education advanced with the 1954 establishment of the Somalia National University.
In 1956 April 13, domestic rule was transferred to Somali politicians and a seventy member legistative assembly was formed. The first general elections in Somalia under universal suffrage were won by the SYL, whose leader, Abdullahi Issa, became prime minister and Aden Abdulle Osman Daar became speaker of parliament. Economic and social reforms were implemented by the new government. Somalia achieved total independence in 1960 with the union of the territories of former Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, and Mogadishu was proclaimed the capital.
A government was formed by Hagi Bashir Ismail, the first President of the independent Somali National Assembly with Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as First President of the Somali Republic List of Presidents of Somalia,[27][28][29] and Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as Prime Minister, later to become President (from 1967–1969). On July 20, 1961 and through a popular referendum, the Somali people ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960.[30]
In the first national elections after independence, held in Mogadishu on the 30th of March 1964, the SYL won an absolute majority of 69 of the 123 parliamentary seats. The remaining seats were divided among 11 parties. Five years from then, in general elections held in March 1969, the ruling SYL led by Mohammed Ibrahim Egal returned to power. However, in the same year, then President of Somalia Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was assassinated. A military coup quickly ensued, with Siad Barre now assuming leadership. Barre's Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,[31][32] arrested members of the former government, banned political parties,[33] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.[34] The assassin, a member of a lineage said to have been badly treated by the president, was subsequently tried and executed by the revolutionary government. Prime minister Egal returned to Mogadishu to arrange for the selection of a new president by the National Assembly. Government critics, particularly a group of army officers, saw no hope for improving the country's situation by this means. Critics also saw the process as extremely corrupt with votes for the presidency being actively bid on, the highest offer being 55,000 Somali Shillings (approximately $8,000) per vote by Hagi Musa Bogor. On 21 October 1969, when it became apparent that the assembly would support Egal's choice, army units, with the cooperation of the police, took over strategic points in Mogadishu and rounded up government officials and other prominent political figures.
The revolutionary army established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate. A nationalization program of industry and land was initiated. Under the new regime, Mogadishu experienced a social, economic and cultural renaissance, with the widespread dessimination of Somali literature, the construction of the Mogadiscio Stadium, and multiple roads linking the city with important agricultural hubs and other urban areas of the country. Mogadishu boasted a healthy cinema scene and in 1975, the Somali Film Agency (SFA), the nation's film regulatory body, was established. An adjunct to the federal Ministry of Information and National Guidance,[35] it grew out of the Ministry's visual aids arm.[36] The SFA's duties included overseeing the importation, distribution and censorship of movies in the country. It later also oversaw the production of both long and short films.[37][38][39] Most of the imported films were brought in from Egypt, Italy, the Soviet Union and East Germany. To facilitate processing and post-production, the SFA also forged a working partnership with British Films LTD, a British movie company.[40] The Mogadishu Pan-African and Arab Film Symposium (Mogpaafis) was held in the city annually, bringing together an array of prominent filmmakers and movie experts from across the globe, including other parts of Northeast Africa and the Arab world, as well as Asia and Europe. Held annually in Somali capital, the film festival was organized by the Somali Film Agency.[41]
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 Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, 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.
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.[42] 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.
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.[43] The fighting between the Ethiopian-backed TFG and the ICU became stretched to over 400 km (250 mi) of land.[44]
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.[45] On December 27, reports stated that the ICU was abandoning the city.[46] On December 28, 2006, pro-government militias claimed to have taken control of key locations, including the former presidential palace.[47]
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.[48]
On December 29, 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the country's seventeen year conflict as his government had mandated to do.[49] He also blamed the international community for its failure to support the government, and said that the speaker of parliament would succeed him in office per the charter of the Transitional Federal Government.[50]
Over the next few months, a new President was elected from amongst the more moderate Islamists,[51] and Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of slain former President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, was selected as the nation's new Prime Minister. The Transitional Federal Government, with the help of a small team of African Union troops, also began a counteroffensive in February 2009 to retake control of the southern half of the country. To solidify its control of southern Somalia, the TFG formed an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union, other members of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia.[52] Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the two main Islamist groups in opposition, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009.[53]
As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's newly established coalition government announced that it would re-implement Shari'a as the nation's official judicial system.[54] However, conflict continues in the southern and central parts of the country between government troops and extremist Islamist militants with links to al-Qaeda.
While its institutions still have room for improvement, the Transitional Federal Government continues to reach out to both Somali and international stakeholders to help grow the administrative capacity of the Transitional Federal Institutions and to work toward eventual national elections in 2011, when the interim government's mandate expires.[55]