Mogadishu

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Mogadishu (مقديشو)
Dhagaxtuur Monument
Nickname: Xamar
Mogadishu's location in Somalia
Coordinates: 2°02′N, 45°21′E
Country	Somalia
Region	Banadir
Population (2006)
- City	1.700000
Time zone	EAT (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EAT (UTC+3)

Mogadishu (Somali: Muqdisho, popularly Xamar; Arabic: مقديشو‎ Maqadīshū; Italian: Mogadiscio), is the largest city in Somalia, and its capital.

Mogadishu lies on the historically important Indian Ocean Benadir coast, and the city has served as an important regional port for centuries.

With the 1991 collapse of central governance in Somalia, Mogadishu has seen 15 years of fighting by rival militias. Estimates of the city's current population vary wildly, between 1.5 and 3 million.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 2.1 Medieval East African city-state 2.2 Colonial Era 2.3 Collapse of government and UN intervention 3 Mogadishu today 3.1 Second Battle of Mogadishu 3.2 Fall of Mogadishu 3.3 Battle of Mogadishu (2007) 4 Culture and economy 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Geography

Mogadishu is located at 2°4' North, 45°22' East (2.06667, 45.36667). The Shebelle River (Webe Shabelle) rises in central Ethiopia and comes within 30 kilometers (18.6 mi) of the Indian Ocean near Mogadishu before turning southwestward. Usually dry during February and March, the river provides water essential for the cultivation of sugarcane, cotton, and bananas.

Features of the city include the Hammawein Old Town, the Bakara Market, and the former resort of Gezira Beach.

[edit] History

[edit] Medieval East African city-state

Trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area to other communities along the Indian coast as early as the first century AD according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. With Muslims traders from the Arabian Peninsula arriving in circa 900 AD Mogadishu was well suited to become a regional centre for commerce. While the majority of the Somali coast is arid, the area around Mogadishu is more suitable to agriculture and could support a larger population. It is also the northernmost site in East Africa with a good natural harbour.

The northernmost of the East African city-states, Mogadishu prospered with trade with the interior, which spread Islam throughout Somalia. Beginning about 1000, trade increased among the Swahili cities of coastal East Africa. This trade drove the Mogadishu economy by the early 1100s. The origin of the name "Mogadishu" is unclear; one version claims it as the Somali version of the Arabic language and/or Persian name "maqad shah" (imperial seat of the shah). The historic Mosque of Fakr ad-Din, built 1269, still stands. Archaeological excavations have recovered many coins from China, Sri Lanka, and Annam. The majority of the Chinese coins date to the Song Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty "are also represented,"^[1] according to Richard R.K. Pankhurst. The trading Zanj city-states of the Swahili civilization imported Arabic pottery, Chinese porcelain, and Indian cloth. They exported wood, ivory, shells, slaves, and iron. Kilwa, which dominated the gold trade from the Great Zimbabwe, ultimately eclipsed Mogadishu, Lamu, Zanzibar, and other northern cities after the 1200s.

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."^[2]

The abundance of food in Mogadishu around 1330 impressed visitor Ibn Battuta. He remarked that a single person "eats as much as a whole company of us would eat, as a matter of habit, and they are corpulent and fat in the extreme."^[3]

[edit] Colonial Era

According to Duarte Barbosa the Portuguese visited the city but never succeeded in taking it. The sultan of Zanzibar occupied the city in 1871. Garesa Palace,^[4] built in the late 1800s for the local administrator of the sultan, now houses a museum and library. When Mogadishu was visited by French traveller Charles Guillain in 1846-1848, Mogadishu was dependent on both the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the Somali Geledi Clan."

In 1892, the sultan of Zanzibar leased the city to Italy. Italy purchased the city in 1905 and made Mogadiscio (Italian for Mogadishu) the capital of Italian Somaliland. The surrounding territory came under Italian control in 1936 after heavy resistance.

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 British continued to rule until Italy returned in 1952 to administer their former Somali protectorate. Education advanced with the 1954 establishment of Somalia National University. Somalia achieved independence in 1960 with Mogadishu as its capital.

[edit] Collapse of government and UN intervention

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. 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.

[edit] Mogadishu today

‎Excessive Isbaros and violence continued to rule Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia through the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the deaths of British Aid workers Dick and Enid Eyeington in 2003. Now clans have established territory for themselves and claim independence from the Republic of Somalia. All attempts to restore state order, by forming transitional governments while in exile, have failed.

[edit] Second Battle of Mogadishu

Main article: Second Battle of Mogadishu

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.^[5] 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.

[edit] Fall of Mogadishu

Main article: Fall of 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.^[6] The fighting between the Ethiopian-backed TFG and the ICU became stretched to over 400km (250 miles) of land.^[7]

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.^[8] On December 27, reports stated that the ICU was abandoning the city.^[9] On December 28, 2006, pro-government militias claimed to have taken control of key locations, including the former presidential palace.^[10]

[edit] Battle of Mogadishu (2007)

Main article: Battle of Mogadishu (2007)

On 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.^[11]

[edit] Culture and economy

Mogadishu serves as a commercial and financial center. The economy recovered somewhat from the worst civil unrest although the civil war still presents problems. The effective absence of government yields free trade without taxes or regulatory expenditures, making business relatively inexpensive. Businesses have hired armed militias to provide security against gunmen, leading to a gradual reduction in street violence.

Principal industries include food and beverage processing and textiles, especially cotton ginning. The main market offers a variety of goods from food to electronic gadgets.

Roads link the city with many Somali locales and with Kenya and Ethiopia. Private airlines service Mogadishu at various airports within and around the city; the intense fighting largely destroyed the old international airport, which has been recently reopened with flights, the first being a Daallo flight to Hargeisa. Mogadishu leads Somalia in port traffic and still serves as a major seaport. International traders actively benefit from its de facto duty-free status. However, piracy is widespread around Somalia's coastal areas, making it risky.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• GlobalSecurity.org page on the city's history
• BBC News Mogadishu photo gallery
• Mogadishu: Images from the Past
• Maps of Mogadishu in 1894, 1915, 1934, 1975, 1987
• Mogadishu at Google Maps
• Map of Mogadishu (1997)
• "The Village, the Market, and the Street: A Study of Disadvantaged Areas and Groups in Mogadishu, Somalia" 1987 Chapters 1-10 (1 Mb), Chapters 11-18 (1 Mb)

Coordinates: 2°04′N, 45°22′E