A woman awaits death outside her house.
1960
British and Italian Somali territories
join to form an independent Somalia.
1969
October 15
President Abdurashiid Ali Shermaarke
is assassinated.
October 21
Siyaad Barre seizes power in military
coup.
1970
October 21
Siyaad commits Somalia to "scientific
socialism," and officially aligns Somalia with the Soviet Union. The Soviets
begin a massive arms buildup designed to shore up Somalia against the U.S.
ally, Ethiopia.
1974
September 12
Ethiopian Emperor and U.S. ally
Haile Selassie overthrown in military coup. U.S. continues to supply arms
and aid to new regime in order to counter Marxist elements in the junta.
1980
The U.S. and Somalia sign an agreement
exchanging U.S. arms for access to the abandoned Soviet military base at
Berbera.
1981
January
The Somali National Movement (SNM)
is founded to oppose the Barre regime.
June
CARE joins with the National Refugee
Commission and forms CARE/ELU to deliver food to refugees in Somalia.
1988
Somalia and Ethiopia sign peace
agreement forcing Ethiopia based rebel SNM to return to Somalia. They occupy
Hargeysa and the government responds by bombing the city, killing tens
of thousands and creating new refugee problems.
1990
USC forces approach the city of
Mogadishu. Most aid workers leave the country.
1991
January 26
Siyaad Barre is finally driven
out of Mogadishu.
January 29
Ali Mahdi Mohamed is declared interim
president by the USC. Part of the USC, led by General Mohamed Farah Aideed,
opposes the appointment.
May 18
SNM declares the independence of
the Republic of Somaliland.
July 5
Aideed's faction of the USC, now
called the Somali Nation Alliance (SNA), declares him as their leader.
September
Siyaad Barre's forces return. He
seizes Baidoa. His troops loot grain storage bins and destroy farms. Counterattacks
against Barre by Aideed's militia lead to further destruction of agriculture.
Both armies pursue a scorched earth policy in Somalia's agricultural region
leading to the famine.
1992
March 3
After a conference at UN headquarters
in New York, Aideed and Ali Mahdi sign a peace agreement. Other factions
continue to battle in the south.
April 24
UN Security Council Resolution
751 establishes UNOSOM. Mohamed Sahnoun is soon appointed Special Representative.
April 25
Aideed drives Siyaad Barre's forces
out of Somalia and across the border to Kenya. Famine conditions become
serious in the south.
August
500 Pakistani peace keepers arrive
and famine conditions begin to subside.
October
Aideed decides he doesn't want
UNOSOM in Mogadishu and moves his troops into the city from Bardera. Siyaad
Barre's forces return from Kenya and capture Bardera leading to a spike
in famine deaths.
November 25
U.S. President George Bush officially
offers to intervene militarily in Somalia.
December 4
With only weeks left in his term
as president, George Bush responds to the UN request, proposing that US
combat troops lead an international UN force to secure the environment
for relief operations.
December 5
The UN accepts his offer, and Bush
orders 25,000 US troops into Somalia.
December 9
First U.S. Marines land on the
beach. Bush assures the American people and troops involved that this is
not an open ended commitment; the objective is to quickly provide a secure
environment so that food can get through to the starving Somalis, and then
the operation will be turned over to the UN peacekeeping forces. He assures
the public that he plans for the troops to be home by Clinton's inauguration
in January. This US-led United Task Force (UNITAF) is dubbed "Operation
Restore Hope."
1993
January
Clinton, like Bush, is anxious
to scale down the American military presence in Somalia and let the United
Nations take charge.
March 15-28
The UN organized Conference on
National Reconciliation in Somalia, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, results
in a resolution among faction leaders, including Aideed, to end the violence.
May 4
The US officially hands over the
command to the UN on May 4.
June 5
24 Pakistani UNOSOM soldiers die
in Mogadishu in clashes with forces loyal to Aideed.
June 17
Admiral Howe issues the arrest
warrant against Aideed and puts a $25,000 bounty on his head.
August 8
Four American military police are
killed by a remote detonated land mine set off by Somalis. Two weeks later,
six more US soldiers are wounded in a similar attack. This gets attention
in America, and shortly thereafter, Task Force Ranger is deployed to Somalia.
September
In the midst of the manhunt, the
Clinton administration opens a secret initiative to negotiate with Aideed.
Former president Jimmy Carter, who had a previous relationship with Aideed,
volunteers to act as intermediary. The US military commanders in Mogadishu
are not informed about this new initiative.
October 3
18 Americans and close to 700 Somalis
die in a failed attempt to snatch Aideed. Again the bodies of the dead
are desecrated. An American flier is kidnapped and photos of his battered
body are broadcast and published around the world.
October 7
Pres. Clinton announces U.S. will
leave Somalia in six months. Hunt for Aideed is called off.
1994
March 26
Last U.S. forces pull out of Somalia.
1995
January 2
Siyaad Barre dies in exile in Nigeria.
March 2
Last U.N. forces pull out of Somalia.
1996
August 2
SNA leader and self-proclaimed
president Mohamed Farah Aideed dies from bullet wounds sustained several
days earlier. Within days, his son Hussein Mohamed Farah, is named to take
his place.