Somalia's defeat in the 1977-78 Ogaden War with Ethiopia, coupled with the ill effects of drought, a growing foreign debt, and the deepening authoritarianism of the Siad Barre regime, have created a domestic crisis for Somalia that has international implications.
In an effort to crush political opposition, Barre's government has engaged in gross violations of human rights against the general population, particularly in the north. By the summer of 1988, international human rights groups, European governments, and the U.S. Congress were calling for a moratorium on the fratricidal violence in Somalia. Some congressmen went so far as to urge the Reagan administration to cut off both military and economic aid until the Barre regime took steps to restore peace with justice in Somalia. The administration, however, was reluctant to halt assistance to Somalia in spite of the human rights situation due to the perceived strategic importance of Somalia for the U.S. national interest.
Given this situation, the newly installed Bush administration is faced with a foreign policy dilemma in the Horn. How valid is the strategic importance argument? When does morality supersede national interest? Are there avenues available for the United States to influence the restoration of good relations between the two countries?
To understand the depth of Somalia's current problems, one must consider the origins and development of Somali nationalism and the shifting character of President Mohamed Siad Barre's regime. Such a backdrop would enable us to better evaluate the implications of this situation for U.S.-Somali relations.
The Somali nation traces its origins to antiquity, but modern Somali nationalism can be traced only to the late nineteenth century and to the resistance led by Seyyid Mohammad Abdille Hassan against Ethiopian and European coloinzers. In spite of this valiant struggle, the Somali peoples fell victim to the colonial partitioning of their nation. Somalia was divided into the European colonies of British and Italian Somaliland, Kenya, Djibouti, and incorporated into the Ethiopian empire.
Although the Somali nation can trace its history, language, and culture to ancient times, on the eve of the colonial partitioning, there was no Somali nation-state per se. Somali clan families did, however, occupy vast tracts of territory in the Horn region and were bound together by Islam, language, culture, history, and commerce. The fact of colonial conquest in the late nineteenth century set the stage for the emergence of the second phase of modern Somali nationalism.
'Greater Somalia'
The fires of nationalism among the Somalis were constantly stoked throughout the colonial period, not only by Somali nationalists, but also by various colonial powers who through words and deeds seemed to legitimize the concept of "Greater Somalia." Mussolini, for example, saw "La Grande Somalia" as the "jewel" of Italian East Africa, thus justifying Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and British Somaliland at the beginning of World War II. During the postwar British administrative period, serous consideration was given to the creation of a unified Somali nation-state comprised of Somalis, in what was for a brief time Italian East Africa and part of Kenya.
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