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Jubaland State of Somalia
جوبالاند |
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| Capital | Garbahaareey | |||
| Largest city | Kismayo | |||
| Official language(s) | Somali and Arabic | |||
| Government | Presidential Democracy | |||
| - | President | Mohamed Abdi Mohamed | ||
| Autonomy | In Somalia | |||
| - | Proclaimed | 2010 | ||
| - | Recognition | unrecognized | ||
| Area | ||||
| - | Total | 87,000 km2 33,000 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | Negl. | ||
| Population | ||||
| - | 2005 estimate | 1,300,000 | ||
| Currency | Somali shilling (SOS) |
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| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) | |||
| - | Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC+3) | ||
| Internet TLD | .so | |||
| Calling code | 252 (Somalia) | |||
Jubaland (Somali: Jubbaland, Arabic: جوبالاند), also known as Azania or the Juba Valley (Somali: Dooxada Jubba) and formerly as Trans-Juba (Italian: Oltre Giuba), is an autonomous region in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies 40–60 km east of the Jubba River, stretching from Gedo to the Indian Ocean, while its western side flanks the North Eastern Province in Kenya.
Jubaland's total population is estimated at 1.3 million inhabitants. As of 2005, its constituent administrative regions of Gedo, Lower Juba and Middle Juba had estimated populations of 690,000, 400,000 and 240,000 residents, respectively.[1]
The territory has a total area of 87,000 km² (33,000 sq mi). Its main city is Kismayo, which is situated on the coast near the mouth of the Jubba river. Bardera, Afmadow, Bu'aale and Beled Haawo are the other principal cities in the region.
In antiquity, the Jubaland region's various port cities and harbours, such as Essina and Sarapion, were an integral part of global trade. During the Middle Ages, the influential Somali Ajuuraan State held sway over the territory, followed in turn by the Geledi Sultanate. From 1836 until 1861, parts of Jubaland were claimed by the Sultanate of Muscat (now in Oman), and were later incorporated into British East Africa. In 1925, Jubaland was ceded to Italy, forming a part of Italian Somaliland. On 1 July 1960, the region, along with the rest of Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, became part of the independent republic of Somalia.
More recently, Jubaland has been the site of numerous battles in the ongoing[update] Somali Civil War, and it was declared independent from 1998 to 1999. In late 2006, Islamist militants gained control of most of the region. To reclaim possession of the territory, a new autonomous administration dubbed Azania was announced in 2010 and formalized the following year.
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In ancient times, the Jubaland region's various port cities and harbours, such as Essina and Sarapion, were an integral part of world trade. Many of the old cities in the area, including Gondershe, Bardera and Kismayo, date from the Middle Ages.
The region eventually came under the rule of the influential Ajuuraan State, which utilized the Jubba River for its plantations.
After the collapse of this polity, the House of Gobroon was established and the Geledi Sultanate held sway over the area. The dynasty reached its apex under the successive reigns of Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, who successfully consolidated Gobroon power during the Bardera wars, and Sultan Ahmed Yusuf, who forced regional powers such as the Omani Empire to submit tribute.
From 1836 until 1861, parts of Jubaland were claimed by the Sultanate of Muscat (now in Oman), when the new Sultanate of Zanzibar was split from Muscat and Oman and given control of its East African territories.
On 7 November 1890, Zanzibar became a British protectorate, and on 1 July 1895, the Sultanate ceded all of its coastal possessions in continental East Africa to Britain. Together with the Zanzibar Sultanate's other former possessions in the area, Jubaland became part of the British East Africa colony.
Jubaland was subsequently ceded to Italy in 1925 as a reward for the Italians having joined the Allies in World War I,[2] and had a brief existence as the Italian colony of Trans-Juba (Oltre Giuba) under governor (16 July 1924 - 31 December 1926) Corrado Zoli (1877–1951). Italy issued its first postage stamps for the territory on 29 July 1925, consisting of contemporary Italian stamps overprinted Oltre Giuba (Trans-Juba).
Jubaland was then incorporated into neighboring 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 inhabitants.
On 1 July 1960, Jubaland, along with the rest of Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, became part of the independent republic of Somalia.
During the post-independence period, one particularly significant historical event was the series of internal migrations into the Jubba regions by Somalis from other parts of the country.
Between 1974 and 1975, 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 Siad Barre government, airlifted some 90,000 people from the devastated regions of Hobyo and Caynaba. New small settlements referred to as Danwadaagaha ("Collective Settlements") were then created in the Jubbada Hoose (Lower Jubba) and Jubbada Dhexe (Middle Jubba) regions. The transplanted families were also introduced to farming and fishing techniques, a change from their traditional pastoralist lifestyle of livestock herding.
By the late 1980s, the moral authority of Barre's government had collapsed. Many Somalis had become disillusioned with life under military dictatorship. The government became increasingly totalitarian, and resistance movements, encouraged by Ethiopia, sprang up across the country, eventually leading to the Somali Civil War and Barre's ouster.
Following the ensuing breakdown of central authority, General Mohammed Said Hersi "Morgan", Barre's son-in-law and former Minister of Defense, briefly declared Jubaland independent on 3 September 1998.[3] Political opponents of General Morgan subsequently united as the Allied Somali Forces (ASF), seizing control of Kismayo by June of the following year.[4]
Led by Colonel Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale, the ASF administration renamed itself the Juba Valley Alliance in 2001.[5] On 18 June of that year, an 11-member inter-clan council decided to ally the JVA with the newly-forming Transitional Federal Government.[6]
In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist organization, assumed control of much of Jubaland and other parts of southern Somalia and promptly imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to re-establish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU and solidify its rule.[7]
On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President and founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army and decorated war hero, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. The government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.[8]
Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. At the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops.[9]
In 2010, residents of Somalia's Juba region established a new secular regional administration. This Jubaland Initiative was created to bring about local stability, in the model of the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions in the northern part of the country.[10] Kenya has expressed interest in helping to develop the new regional administration so as to establish a buffer zone between it and the Islamist insurgency in southern Somalia. However, neighboring Ethiopia is reportedly unhappy about the Jubaland Initiative and Kenya's involvement in it, as it fears that the project will have an effect on its own military struggle against rebels in the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region, who seek independence.[11] On 3 April 2011, it was announced that the new autonomous Jubaland administration would be referred to as Azania and would be led as President by Mohamed Abdi Mohamed (Gandhi), the former national Minister of Defense.[12][13] According to President Ghandi, a trained anthropologist and historian, Azania was selected as the name for the new administration because of its historical importance, as "Azania was a name given to Somalia more than 2,500 years ago and it was given by Egyptian sailors who used to get a lot of food reserves from the Somali Coast[...] Its origin is [an] Arabic word meaning the land of plenty."[14]
Following a coordinated operation between the Somalian military and the Kenyan military in 2011, President of Somalia Sharif Ahmed initially expressed reservations about the deployment of Kenyan troops for what a BBC correspondent suggested was his opposition to the notion of Kenya's involvement in the Jubaland Initiative.[15] However, the Somalian and Kenyan governments later jointly issued a communique formally pledging coordinated military, political and diplomatic support for the mission,[16] and specifying that the operation would officially be Somalia-led.[17]
Azania's new regional flag consists of a rectangular shaped surface with three horizontal bars: the top row in white, the middle row in blue, and the bottom row in red.[18]
As of 2005, Jubaland's constituent administrative regions consist of the following:
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