SOO MAAL Posted July 3, 2005 Somalia: 45 Years after Independence Today has national significance for all Somalis and everyone is celebrating in one way or another. However, the nation is in disarray and many ask if it is in better situation than forty five years ago when it first tasted the sweetness of self-governance. It has been long forty five years since northern and southern two sections of divided Somalia got their independence from England and Italia on June 26 and July 1 respectively in 1960. Djibouti, former French colony became sovereign nation on June 27, 1978. About a third of Somalia was annexed by Ethiopia and Kenya and never got the chance to govern themselves. Somalia lost sense of direction after it went from one system to another, to anarchy, all in less than thirty years. People who had no voice and were treated as second class citizens by the British and the Italians started their new journey with a democratic system in 1960 followed by 1969 military coup and communism that lasted for twenty years. Then in 1991 the only president young Somalis ever knew, Mohamed Siad Barre lost his grip on power and left the country. Somalia has been without central government since 1991 and the southern part received much more than its share of the civil war. War after war devastated much of the south and hundreds of thousands of people fled to nearby countries and as far as Australia and Norway. Almost anywhere you go today, you’ll see the effects of Somalia civil war. Old men and women battle their ways in snow covered streets of Minneapolis and Columbus in the USA and Toronto and Ottawa in Canada. Thousands and thousands of Somalis are in hiding in Middle East countries in fear of deportation to chaotic Somalia and jailing. While Somalis celebrate the state’s birth, life has no meaning in many parts in the country and you can get killed for just belonging to the wrong tribe or wearing jewelry. How can you ask a ten year old child who never sat in a classroom and doesn’t even know what freedom means s to celebrate for such a historic event? Many heroes and heroines who fought for Somalia’s freedom lost their lives or loved ones in the civil war. In political arena, Somalia is divided than ever before ever and rumors of fresh weapons importation and possible renewed civil in the near future are on the rise. The irony is that Somalia has been held hostage by warlords and they are the ones who are spearheading today’s celebrations. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
