Space
Program of Somalia------The Somali Space Agency------
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Level = 0 Development: Very Low
What has been going on in Somalia?
What kind of space power do they have?
Does Somalia have space weapons?
What are they planning over there? |
Population: 8,300,000 / Language: Somali / GDP: $600 / Cities: Mogadishu
OVERVIEW
Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people. Comprised of a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, Somalia was created in 1960 when the two territories merged. Since then, its development has been hindered by territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. In 1970 Mr Barre proclaimed a socialist state, paving the way for close relations with the USSR. In 1977, with the help of Soviet arms, Somalia attempted to seize the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, but was defeated thanks to Soviet and Cuban backing for Ethiopia, which had turned Marxist.
In 1991 President Barre was overthrown by opposing clans. But they failed to agree on a replacement and plunged the country into lawlessness and clan warfare. In 2000 clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president at a conference in Djibouti. A transitional government was set up, with the aim of reconciling warring militias. But as its mandate drew to a close, the administration had made little progress in uniting the country. In 2004, after protracted talks in Kenya, the main warlords and politicians signed a deal to set up a new parliament, which later appointed a president. The fledgling administration, the 14th attempt to establish a government since 1991, has no civil service or government buildings. It faces a formidable task in bringing reconciliation to a country divided into clan fiefdoms. Its authority was further compromised in 2006 by the rise of Islamists who gained control much of the south, including the capital, after their militias kicked out the warlords who had ruled the roost for 15 years. After the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991, the north-west part of Somalia unilaterally declared itself the independent Republic of Somaliland. The territory, whose independence is not recognised by international bodies, has enjoyed relative stability. Full name: The Somali Democratic Republic
President: Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former leader of the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland, was chosen by Somalia's interim parliament as president of the Transitional Federal Government in October 2004. The election took place in Kenya because the Somali capital was regarded as being too dangerous. The president pledged to promote reconciliation and to set about rebuilding the country. But his government, plagued by internal disagreements, has failed to end the country's anarchy. The administration has been based in the provincial town of Baidoa, many miles to the north of Mogadishu, and has little influence beyond its base.
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Somalia's Space Infrastructure Somalia is one of the world's poorest countries, and its space program is not suprisingly, nonexistent. Not only does it not have an agency, but also no infrastructure in which one would arise. Mogadishu University has no space related educational architecture, lacking astrophysics, astronautics, aeronautics and natural sciences, favoring instead Shi'ra Islamic Law. The government has no ministry devoted to science of this type. Somalia has no history of being part of any organization dealing with space, nor has any launch capability. Somalia lacks the industrial base, the educational base and the political foundation for a process like this to occur within it. It has no functioning university with an astrophysics or astronautics program, and nonexistant industry. Somalia operates no satellites and, not having an orbital presence, has no space power. The government of Somalia in Mogadishu has no plans for attempting to further any ambition in space development or research. |
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Timeline of Events in Somalia ...From the Past to the Future 600s - Arab tribes establish the sultanate of Adel on the Gulf of Aden coast. Somali capital, Mogadishu, in more peaceful times
1875 - Egypt occupies towns on Somali coast and parts of the interior. 1860s - France acquires foothold on the Somali coast, later to become Djibouti. 1887 - Britain proclaims protectorate over Somaliland. 1888 - Anglo-French agreement defines boundary between Somali possessions of the two countries. 1889 - Italy sets up a protectorate in central Somalia, later consolidated with territory in the south ceded by the sultan of Zanzibar. 1925 - Territory east of the Jubba river detached from Kenya to become the westernmost part of the Italian protectorate. 1936 - Italian Somaliland combined with Somali-speaking parts of Ethiopia to form a province of Italian East Africa. 1940 - Italians occupy British Somaliland. 1941 - British occupy Italian Somalia. Independence 1950 - Italian Somaliland becomes a UN trust territory under Italian control.
Parliament in ruins: War devastated much of Mogadishu
1960 - British and Italian parts of Somalia become independent, merge and form the United Republic of Somalia; Aden Abdullah Osman Daar elected president. 1963 - Border dispute with Kenya; diplomatic relations with Britain broken until 1968. 1964 - Border dispute with Ethiopia erupts into hostilities. 1967 - Abdi Rashid Ali Shermarke beats Aden Abdullah Osman Daar in elections for president. Drought and war 1969 - Muhammad Siad Barre assumes power in coup after Shermarke is assassinated. Muhammad Siad Barre backed 'Scientific Socialism'
1970 - Barre declares Somalia a socialist state and nationalises most of the economy. 1974 - Somalia joins the Arab League. 1974-75 - Severe drought causes widespread starvation. 1977 - Somalia invades the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia. 1978 - Somali forces pushed out of Ogaden with the help of Soviet advisers and Cuban troops. 1981 - Opposition to Barre's regime begins to emerge after he excludes members of the Mijertyn and Isaq clans from government positions, which are filled with people from his own Marehan clan. 1988 - Peace accord with Ethiopia. Disintegration 1991 - Opposition clans oust Barre who is forced to flee the country. 1991 - Former British protectorate of Somaliland declares unilateral independence.
UN force sent to quell violence suffered losses, left in 1994
1995 - UN peacekeepers leave, having failed to achieve their mission. 1996 - Warlord Muhammad Aideed dies of his wounds and is succeeded by his son, Hussein. 1997 - Clan leaders meeting in Cairo agree to convene a conference of rival clan members to elect a new national government. 1998 - Puntland region in northern Somalia declares autonomy. 2000 August - Clan leaders and senior figures meeting in Djibouti elect Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president of Somalia. 2000 October - Hassan and his newly-appointed prime minister, Ali Khalif Gelayadh, arrive in Mogadishu to heroes' welcomes. Restoring order 2000 October - Gelayadh announces his government, the first in the country since 1991. 2001 January - Somali rebels seize the southern town of Garbaharey, reportedly with Ethiopian help. 2001 February - French oil group TotalFinaElf signs agreement with transitional government to prospect for oil in south; one of main faction leaders, Mohamed Qanyareh Afrah, signs accord recognising interim government, reportedly in return for promise of ministerial posts. 2001 April - Somali warlords, backed by Ethiopia, announce their intention to form a national government within six months, in direct opposition to the country's transitional administration. 2001 May - Dozens killed in Mogadishu's worst fighting in months between transitional government forces and militia led by warlord Hussein Aideed. 2001 May - Referendum in breakaway Somaliland shows overwhelming support for independence. 2001 August - Forces of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council seize Kismayo for General Mohammed Hirsi Morgan. 2001 August - UN appeals for food aid for half a million people in the drought-hit south. After September 11 2001 September - UN, EU evacuate foreign aid workers in period of uncertainty in wake of attacks on US. 2001 November - US freezes funds of main remittance bank over suspected al-Qaeda links. UN humanitarian official says move is helping to push country towards economic collapse. 2002 April - Warlords in southwest unilaterally declare autonomy for six districts and form "Southwestern Regional Government". 2002 May - New president of breakaway Somaliland Dahir Riyale Kahin takes power after death of Mohamed Ibrahim Egal and pledges to preserve sovereignty. 2002 October - 21 warring factions and transitional government sign ceasefire under which hostilities will end for duration of peace talks. 2003 April - First presidential elections in breakaway Somaliland; incumbent Dahir Riyale Kahin wins by narrow margin. 2004 January - Breakthrough at peace talks in Kenya; warlords, politicians sign deal to set up new parliament. 2004 May-June - More than 100 killed in upsurge of fighting. Deadly clashes between ethnic militias in southern town of Bula Hawo. Transitional government 2004 August - New transitional parliament inaugurated at ceremony in Kenya. In October the body elects Abdullahi Yusuf as president. 2004 December - Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi is approved in office by parliament. Large waves generated by an undersea earthquake off Indonesia hit the Somali coast and the island of Hafun. Hundreds of deaths are reported; tens of thousands of people are displaced. 2005 May - Explosion kills at least 10 people and injures many more at a rally in Mogadishu where Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi is giving a speech. 2005 June - Somali government begins returning home from exile in Kenya, but there are bitter divisons over where in Somalia the new parliament should sit. 2005 November - Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi survives an assassination attempt in Mogadishu. Gunmen attack his convoy, killing six people. Islamist advance 2006 February - Transitional parliament meets in Somalia - in the central town of Baidoa - for the first time since it was formed in Kenya in 2004. Islamic militia control Mogadishu 2006 March and May - Scores of people are killed and hundreds are injured during fierce fighting between rival militias in Mogadishu. It is the worst violence in almost a decade. 2006 June-July - Militias loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts take control of Mogadishu and other parts of the south after defeating clan warlords. A political stand-off emerges between the Islamic Courts and the transitional government based in Baidoa. 2006 July-August - Mogadishu's air and seaports are re-opened for the first time since 1995. 2006 September - Transitional government and the Union of Islamic Courts begin peace talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Somalia's first known suicide bombing targets President Yusuf outside parliament in Baidoa. 2006 October - About 35,000 Somalis escaping drought, strict Islamist rule and the possibility of war have arrived in Kenya refugee camps since the start of 2006, the UN refugee agency UNHCR reports. War of words between Ethiopia and Somalia's Islamists. Premier Meles says Ethiopia is "technically" at war with the Islamists because they had declared jihad on his country. 2006 November - Transitional government and Islamists fail to meet for scheduled round of peace talks, raising fears that they will come to blows and draw neighbouring countries into the conflict. 2006 December - UN Security Council endorses African peacekeepers to help prop up the interim government. Islamist leaders say they will tackle any foreign forces as invaders. Following fighting near Baidoa between the Islamists and government troops backed by Ethiopian forces, the head of the Islamic Courts says the movement is at war with Ethiopia. December 24 - Ethiopia confirms it is engaged in fighting against the Islamists in Somalia. December 25 onwards - In fierce fighting, Ethiopian aircraft, tanks and artillery support forces of the transitional government. Jets strike targets which include Islamist-controlled airports. December 28 - Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies march into Mogadishu after the Islamists abandon the capital.
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TODAY AND INTO THE FUTURE
Nothing Planned
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