Somalia: mired in violence and chaos

Somalia, which elected a new president around midnight on Sunday after a long-drawn process, has been mired in chaos since the fall of the military regime of President Siad Barre in 1991.

His ouster was followed by a civil war and the rise of the Al-Shabaab Islamist group, which is linked to Al-Qaeda and tried to take over the country before being driven out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011. 

AFP looks at the main developments since.

– 2011: Al-Shabaab driven from Mogadishu –

Al-Shabaab are driven out of Mogadishu by government forces backed by troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The Islamists retain control over vast rural areas, from which they regularly launch deadly attacks on AU and Somali forces.

The Horn of Africa reels from terrible drought, and famine in Somalia kills 260,000 people — half of them children under the age of six.

– 2012: New government –

A new parliament is sworn in, after the adoption of a provisional constitution.

The international community formally recognises the new federal government and extends billions in aid.  

Lawmakers elect former academic Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as president. His term in office is marked by corruption scandals and infighting.

– 2013, 2015: Attacks in Kenya –

Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for an 80-hour siege of Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, which leaves at least 67 people dead. 

The jihadists say the attack was in retaliation for Nairobi’s 2011 military intervention in Somalia. 

Two years later, they also claim an attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College, in which 148 people die.

– 2017: Deadliest attack –

In February, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, defeats Mohamud’s bid for re-election and is chosen as president by MPs tasked by clan elders with picking the country’s leader.

In October, a truck packed with explosives blows up in a bustling commercial district in Mogadishu, killing 512 people. Somalia’s deadliest attack is blamed on Al-Shabaab.

– 2020: Election chaos –

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire is ousted by a no-confidence vote in parliament in July, officially for having failed to organise elections by universal suffrage.

Two months later Mohamed Hussein Roble is appointed premier in his place and a new election timetable is cobbled together.

In December, US President Donald Trump orders the withdrawal of most of the around 700 US troops stationed in Somalia to help fight Al-Shabaab and other Islamist groups.

– 2021: Political crisis –

On February 7, Farmajo’s mandate runs out but the federal government and regional states fail to agree on a mechanism for electing his successor.

In April, parliament extends his mandate by two years, triggering gun battles in Mogadishu.

In May, Farmajo turns to Roble to help defuse the situation by asking him to organise elections.

But relations between the two men dramatically deteriorate. In December, Farmajo sacks Roble as prime minister. The premier refuses to step down, accusing the president of an attempted “coup”.

– 2022: Elections at last –

On January 9, Roble and regional leaders strike a deal to wrap up parliamentary elections by February 25 but the vote is delayed several times.

On March 31, the UN Security Council votes for AMISOM to be replaced by ATMIS (the AU Transitional Mission in Somalia), with a view to helping Somali forces take primary responsibility for security by the end of 2024.

In late April, the speakers of the two houses of parliament are finally named.

Shortly afterwards, the presidential election is set for May 15.

Following a marathon vote by lawmakers that stretches into three rounds, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is elected president, becoming the first Somali leader to win a second term.