The Somali National Alliance (abbreviated SNA) was a major politico-military faction formed on 16 June 1992 by four different rebel groups that had been in opposition to the regime of former president Mohamed Siad Barre. The SNA was the first major inter-clan and inter-factional political alliance and was considered to be among the most powerful factions of the Somali Civil War. The alliance most notably faced off against the second phase of the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) during the insurgency that emerged against foreign troops in the latter half of 1993.
Following the 1991 split in the United Somali Congress (USC) between Mohamed Farah Aidid and his primary rival Ali Mahdi Muhammad and the routing of Barre's forces out of Somalia and into Kenya during 1992, a tentative military coalition that had existed between different rebel organizations morphed into the politico-military organization known as the SNA. The alliance included Aidid's breakaway wing of the USC, the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), the Somali Southern National Movement (SSNM) and Somali Democratic Movement (SDM). The organization professed the goal of working toward forming a national reconciliation government and an eventual multi-party democracy.
The SNA later became part of the Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), formed in 2001, which was incorporated into the internationally recognized Transitional National Government in 2002.
Background
Origins
During the mid to late 1980s various insurgencies of growing intensity began opposing the regime of Siad Barre that had ruled Somalia since 1969. Human rights abuses and atrocities by the regime during events such as the Mogadishu riots of July 1989 inflamed insurgency. Formed in 1987, the United Somali Congress (USC) led by Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid, played a leading role in toppling the government in Mogadishu in January 1991. The USC split following a clash over the leadership of the new government between Aidid and Ali Mahdi Muhamed.
Somali Liberation Army coalition Reports that former President Siad Barre's organization, the Somali National Front (SNF), was planning to retake Mogadishu led to the creation of a coalition consisting of four rebel groups: Aidid's wing of the United Somali Congress (USC), the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) and the Somali Southern National Movement (SSNM). On 17 April 1992 the Somali National Alliances short-lived predecessor, a military coalition known as the Somali Liberation Army (SLA), was formed. Brigadier General Mohamed Farah Aidid was elected chairman of the SLA that same day.
The coalition was created with the express goal of preventing Barre from retaking the capital and to further push the last remnants of his troops out of Somalia. Fierce back and forth fighting between SLA forces (led by General Aidid) and SNF forces loyal to President Barre in the fertile inter-riverine areas of southern Somalia consequently resulted in the devastating 1992 famine. Looting of grain stores in the region carried out by the Somali National Front prompted many Rahanweyn communities to begin joining the SNA during 1992. According to SNA accounts of the final clashes, SNF forces outnumbered the Somali Liberation Army coalition over six times, but were ambushed and encircled when they left their base in Baidoa and came within 50 km from Mogadishu. Following the defeat, Barre's forces were routed into southern Somalia until they were pushed out into Kenya by the SLA on 29 April 1992. According to the SLA, over 500 of Barre's troops were taken as prisoners of war and then turned over to the Red Cross.
On 14 May 1992, the SLA seized the strategically important southern port city of Kismayo, and three days later former President Barre fled to Nigeria. Early on in June 1992 the coalition publicly announced that it would never accept the deployment of foreign troops on Somali soil, but welcomed and requested humanitarian aid.
Formation
Formation of Somali National Alliance Following the defeat of Siad Barre's forces, on 16 June 1992 the SLA was phased out and the politico-military organization known as the Somali National Alliance was founded by the same four rebel groups of the SLA in the town of Bardere. The Somali Liberation Army instead morphed into the military wing of the newly founded SNA.
Primary clan composition of the SNA: USC Aidid faction: Habr Gidr, Xawadle, Duduble, Gaalje'el and Ogaden sub clans SPM: Ogaden and Majerteen SDM: Rahanweyn and Digil SSNM: Bimaal and southern Dir
The SNA was the first major inter-clan and inter-factional political alliance of the Somali Civil War. The organization professed the aim of working toward forming a national reconciliation government and an eventual multi-party democracy. Mohammed Farah Aidid was elected to serve as the first chairman and nominal leader of the SNA on 10 August 1992, but his ability to impose decisions on the organization was limited, as a council of elders held decision-making power for most significant issues. Osman Ali Atto served as the chief financier of the SNA.
Following the organizations creation, Aidid would strive to add the Isaaq-based Somali National Movement (SNM) and Darod based Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) to the SNA. If this goal were to be achieved, it would leave his prime rival Ali Mahdi as the only major remaining holdout to a unified national government. Aidid later claimed that the SNA was the only faction in Somalia that had "risen above clan and local loyalties."
Strength and equipment Estimates of the strength of the SNA forces in Somalia ranged from around 5,000 to 10,000, with presumably 1,500 deployed in Mogadishu according to historian Stephen Biddle. Estimates of SNA numerical strength are complicated due to the addition of civilian volunteers or other part-time combatants who supplemented SNA forces in battles, particularly against UNOSOM II. The most probable count of full-time SNA fighters across the country was likely less than 5,000. Soon after its formation the organization was considered to be one of the most powerful factions involved in the Somali Civil War. Most of the SNA's military leadership was made up of former Somali National Army personnel, many of whom possessed combat experience.
Militia troops were primarily equipped with light infantry weaponry, like the AK-47 assault rifle. Experienced fighters supplemented the main forces with RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, sniper rifles, mortars, land mines, recoilless rifles and machine guns.
History
United Nations Intervention
In late July 1992 the alliance announced that they were creating a "joint administrative body" to make security arrangements in order to reduce banditry and that they further rejected recent proposals to send 500 UN troops to Somalia. Instead they appealed to the UN to aid the creation of a 6,000 man strong police service to maintain security and Aidid announced that he agreed with the deployment of 40 UN military observers to Mogadishu. That July the first contingent of UN troops arrived in Somalia.
In August 1992, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Mohammed Sahnoun successfully persuaded Aidid to enlarge the UN deployment. On 12 August, the Somali National Alliance signed an agreement allowing for the deployment of another 500 UN peacekeepers. However, as part of that agreement Sahnoun promised Aidid that any further deployments required the consent of SNA leadership. To the surprise of both the SNA and UN Special Representative Mohammed Sahnoun, Secretary-General Boutros Ghali announced in a 24 August report his intention to increase the size of UNOSOM from 500 to 3,500 and deploy the extra troops in four operational zones across the country. According to Professor Stephen Hill, Sahnoun knew the announcement, "...threatened to undo all his long worked for local support, because it had been made ‘without consulting the Somali leaders and community elders," Following Ghali's decision, Sahnoun attempted to have the deployment postponed until he could renegotiate with the SNA, which UN headquarters refused.
The large scale international military intervention in late 1992 mobilized nationalist opposition to foreign troops in Somalia, which contributed to a significant growth of support for the SNA, which loudly decried perceived UN colonial practices. John Drysdale, a prominent advisor hired by the UN for the operation, warned UNOSOM officials that Somalis would widely see a military deployment as gumeysi (foreign oppression) if it was perceived to be made without their sanction.
On 9 December 1992, under the newly established US led UNITAF military operation, American troops began landing on the Somali coastline at Mogadishu. Over 20,000 US troops were deployed. Mohamed Farah Aidid, leader of the Somali National Alliance (SNA), initially welcomed the operation, reportedly at the urging of his lieutenant Osman Atto, who had close ties to U.S. embassy officials in Nairobi and the American oil company Conoco. Aidid favored a US-led mission over a UN-led one, given his strained relationship with the UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. This non-confrontational stance was reciprocated by the Americans who avoided trying to disarm Aidid's faction. UNITAF later transitioned into the more aggressive UNOSOM II which focused on nation building, and major disagreements between the UN and the Somali National Alliance began soon after the establishment of UNOSOM II, centering on the perceived true nature of the operations political mandate. In May 1993, relations between the SNA and UNOSOM rapidly deteriorated following two significant events.
Kismayo Incident During the March Addis Ababa conference, the Somali National Front smuggled weapons into strategic port city of Kismayo. Although the city was nominally controlled by the SNA and UNITAF forces, Gen. Hersi Morgan of the SNF ousted the SNA forces in Kismayo led by Col. Omar Jess.
On 7 May 1993, three days after UNOSOM II took control of Kismayo from UNITAF, the SNA made an attempt to retake the city. During the assault the Belgian peacekeepers stationed in the town intervened, considering the assault to take Kismayo an attack on their positions and consequently repelled the SNA forces. The fall of Kismayo to Gen. Morgan infuriated the Somali National Alliance. To the SNA the incident was viewed as blatant U.N. partiality, as UNITAF had failed to prevent Morgan from seizing the city and UNOSOM had then fought SNA forces who had tried to retake it.
Galkayo peace accord In early May, Gen. Aidid and Col. Abdullahi Yusuf of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) agreed to convene a peace conference for central Somalia. In light of recent conflict between the two, the initiative was seen a major step towards halting the Somali Civil War. Gen. Aidid, having initiated the talks with Col. Yusuf, considered himself the conference chair, setting the agenda. Beginning 9 May, elder delegations from their respective clans, Habr Gidr and Majerteen, met. While Aidid and Yusuf aimed for a central Somalia-focused conference, they clashed with UNOSOM, which aimed to include other regions and replace Aidid's chairmanship with ex-President Abdullah Osman, a staunch critic of Aidid. As the conference began, Aidid sought assistance from UNOSOM ambassador Lansana Kouyate, who proposed air transport for delegates and a 14-day accommodation. However, he was called back to New York and replaced by April Glaspie, following which UNOSOM retracted its offer. Aidid resorted to private aircraft to transport delegates. Following the aircraft incident, Aidid publicly rebuked the United Nations on Radio Mogadishu for interference in Somali internal affairs.