ETHIOPIA’S 2006 MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SOMALIA: CRITICAL APPRAISAL

CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction

1.1 .Background of the study

Africa is a conflict prone continent and has had a history of the largest prevalence of civil wars and instabilities compared to any other region of the world. There have been a number of conflicts¹ in different parts of the continent. Although many of these conflicts are relatively short-lived, they have nonetheless proved to be among the bloodiest compared to similar occurrences elsewhere (Elbadawi and Sambanis 2000).

The Horn of Africa comprises Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan and the Northern region of Kenya. In strictly geographic terms, however, only Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia comprise the Horn (Medhane, 2004).The Horn of African sub-region is one of the most known unstable and conflict-prone areas in the world. The sources and types of conflict are diversified and it is less predictable (ibid).

The region has been manifested by prolonged civil wars and other conflicts over the past three decades, which have severely disrupted its development and integration. As Berouk Mesfin states: ―The collapse of state authority in Somalia, the fragility of the new state of South Sudan and its tensions with Khartoum, the stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and a partially developed agenda of political Islam in the region are the major security threats hampering development and regional integration in the area.‖ .One of the recent example is a violent conflict between groups led by President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar, with serious security implications for the region(De Waal,2014). Healy (2007) notes that the region is ―a community of states in which the security of any one country is intimately connected to the security of all the others‖. This applies as much to states internal security as to regional security among them. And one of the known failed state in the Horn is Somalia.

• For example, the Eritrean War of Independence (1961-1991); the Shifta War (1963-1967), a separatist insurgency by ethnic Somalis in Kenya; Ethiopian Civil War (1974-1991), between the ruling government of Ethiopia and various rebel groups); Ogaden War (1977-1978) between Ethiopia and Somalia; Ethiopian-Somali Border War (1982); Djiboutian Civil War (1991-1994); Ethio-Eritrea War (1998-2000); Somali Civil War (1986-present); Operation Restore Hope (1992-1993) which primarily involved UN intervention; Insurgency in Ogaden (2007), there was a suppressed coup attempt in Kenya (1982); the post-election civil conflict (2007-2008) in Kenya.

Somalia achieved its independence on July 1, 1960 comprising the former Italian Trust Territory and the former British Protectorate of Somaliland. Even though there is homogeneity in terms of language and religion in Somalia, this homogeneity has never saved them from suffering from two decades of civil war and humanitarian crisis. The Somali people are divided by clan affiliations, the most important component of their identity. The clans use deeply ingrained customary law to govern their communities completely independently of modern state structures. These traditional groupings still hold immense influence over society (Mwangi, 2012).

Somalia is engulfed in a Hobbesian world, virtually ―a war of all against all.‖ .A number of different factors such as colonial legacy, external intervention, clannism, Siad Barre‘s dictatorship, and the intensification of armed opposition contributed to the disintegration of Somalia in 1991. Somalia has been struggling, since then, with the complete absence of a functioning central government and consequently of law and order (Kidist, 2010).And the problem is not yet alleviated.

Even though there were a number of groups who competed for power, none of competing factions were strong enough to take the place as ruler of the country, producing first chaos ,but gradually a form of stateless order and finally a sanctuary of terrorists .The whole country has become a breeding ground for warlords, pirates, kidnappers, bomb makers etc (Gettleman, 2009). Even though there were various attempts by international communities to create stable Somalia, it is/was difficult to bring genuine solution for the people of Somalia because of interest based intervention by various States.

By using the vacuum of power as golden opportunity in Somalia, UIC strengthen itself dominantly in Somalia. In the light of years of state collapse in Somalia and the consequent absence of law and order, a number of sub-clan based Sharia‘ Courts in Mogadishu united to form the Union of Islamic Court (UIC) in 2000. The UIC rose to power in February 2006 by defeating all the warlords, including the USA funded Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-terrorism (ARPCT), who until then carved Mogadishu and most of south and central Somalia among themselves (Omar et al., 2012). In the time of its administration it tried to impose harsh measures on the people and Jihad against Ethiopia. After World War II, while interstate war has relatively rarely occurred, civil war has increased in frequency. This civil war has dramatically increased the intervention of external states (Nye, 2007). One of long lasting civil war is in Somalia which allowed international communities to have intervention on the land of Somalia.

States are highly pushed to have intervention because those civil wars are expanding and initiating terrorism. As a result, terrorism and national security become two main issues being prioritized by most of the nation states across the globe. To stop these civil wars and prevent the growing rate of terrorism, the international community is using intervention as a means of solution (Ahmed, 2013). One of the known unilateral intervention in Somalia is Ethiopia‘s 2006 military intervention. The aim of the research dealt about the military intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia in 2006.And the paper will critically examine on the Ethiopia‘s intervention in Somalia Militarily. Indeed intervention is not new idea .It happened in different parts of the world. Israel is the most common known state in its activity of military intervention in different Arab States. For example, its intervention in Iraq in 1981 was notable.

1.2 .Statement of the problem

Violent country by its nature have negative externality because it disrupts not only economic interaction in its own but also the neighboring States (Eberle et al 2003). The most commonly cited manner in which a conflict in one country affects another is through the possibility of conflict initiation across the border. In some situations war in one country directly increases the risk of war in neighbouring countries (Gleditsch , 2003).The relationship of Ethiopia and Somalia is not good and it is difficult for Ethiopia to opt silence in the ongoing conflict of Somalia.

The 2006 military intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia had been seen in various ways. Some of scholars supported the intervention as essential and necessary and others see it as a danger for the long lasting sovereignty for Ethiopia. Some analysts observed the war in Somalia as the latest in national and religious wars between ―Christian‖ state of Ethiopia and Muslim state of Somalia. Others saw the war as Ethiopian aggression in the search for territorial aggrandizement and secure access to the sea. Others writers portray the conflict as a pre-emptive invasion to impede UIC from the establishment of a Taleban-style state in Somalia that would provide a home base to al Qaida. Some considered it as a proxy war between Ethiopia and its arch enemy Eritrea (Abdul, 2007:6).

According to Wise (2011), the Ethiopian intervention of Somalia from December 2006 to January 2009 would strengthen the development of Al-Shabab‘s ideology, recruitment mechanism and it enables to get acceptance by agitating the people of Somalia that they have been invaded by ―Christian‖ Ethiopia. According to the Wise (2011), the action of Ethiopian was totally wrong and paved the way for strengthening of Al-Shabab and UIC as a whole. The writer did not see the legitimate security of the state and other results like AMISOM.

As cited by Warbrick and Zeray in (2007) in their book of Ethiopia’s Military Action Against theUnion of Islamic Courts and Others in Somalia: Some Legal Implications Similarly, the former US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Professor David Shinn disapproved of the Ethiopian military intervention, saying, ‗as the recent fighting showed conclusively, the Ethiopian military is far more powerful than the militias of the Islamic Courts, which never posed a serious military threat to the Ethiopian homeland, including the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region. But according to Professor Shinn was comparing the military power of Ethiopian government and the UIC. But is it necessary for Ethiopia to wait until the UIC strengthen itself and pose threat to it?

Masters (2013) in his book Al-shabab, Background he stated that in 2003, division was developed between AIAI’s more moderate elders ,that had an interest to create a new political front, and younger members who had a plan to the establishment of a ―Greater Somalia‖ under fundamental ―Islamic rule‖. Hence, the hardliners eventually joined forces with an alliance of sharia courts, known as the Union of Islamic Court (UIC), serving as its youth militia. Al-Shabab and the UIC control of the capital in June 2006 and their victory created a fear of spillover jihadist violence in neighboring Ethiopia. And the competition of Egypt to be dominant in the upper riparian state of Nile was great .So the researcher tried to analyze the role of other states and UIC in the land of Somalia and upon its people in the time of Expansion of UIC². The present research describe did Ethiopia has a legitimate security or interest or not. Related to this issue, some military and political analysts have spread an incorrect and misleading message to the international community suggesting that Ethiopia has an interest in colonizing Somalia.

• The establishment of the Islamic Courts was not so much an Islamist imperative as a response to the need for some means of upholding law and order. The Islamist agenda in the Courts was not particularly ‗programmatic‘; they were not presided over by expert Islamic judges, nor were they adherents to any specific school of Islamic law. The enforcement of the Courts‘ judgments depended on militias recruited from the local clan. At root, the Islamic Courts were part and parcel of clan power in Mogadishu. They served specific Hawiye clans and earned the support of the Hawiye business class of Mogadishu for whom the primary purpose of the Islamic Courts was to provide ‗security. Ethiopia cannot have a realistic colonial agenda toward any countries (Temsegen, 2012).The core argument of the study is UIC could have been the security threat to Ethiopia and it has right to have self defence. So there is a gap in some writers by considering Ethiopia as war monger state which have an interest in colonizing Somalia. And the researcher is interested to search it. The writer tried to investigate Ethiopian intervention in 2006 and propose new insights to broaden and deepen our understanding about it.

1.3. Objectives of the study

The main or general objective of this study is to investigate issues concerning Ethiopia‘s 2006 military intervention in Somalia. As such the specific objectives are:

^Ø  To identify causes that makes Ethiopia to be forefront in the interference of Somalia and to see the role of other States

• To check whether there were any other options other than intervention
• To what extent and in what ways is Somalia‘s ongoing state of collapse can be used as security threat to the Horn of Africa or how might terrorist group seek to exploit it?
• To assess the role of regional states in Somalia
• To assess/see the goals which have been achieved so far because of interference.

1.4.    Research Questions

To achieve this objective one main research question and four other related sub-questions had been posed:

• To what extent and in what ways UIC and its affiliates were security threat for Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa?
• What were the motivations factors for Ethiopia to be forefront in the intervention between union of Islamic court and Transitional Federal Government of Somalia than other states?
• What were the roles of other States in Somalia?
• Were there other options than intervention in Somalia from Ethiopian side?
• Did the intervention bring expected results?

1.5. Methodology and Methods of data Collection

1.5.1. Methodology

This study is a qualitative study which attempts to describe Ethiopian military involvement in in Somalia and try to make an understanding about the research questions that are better handled in a qualitative approach since the topic involves a lot of underlying and complex issues that cannot be possibly measured in quantitative methods and statistical data. Qualitative research has an aim of addressing questions concerned with developing an understanding of the meaning and experience dimension of human‘s lives and social worlds‗(Fossey et al, 2002:717). Since the issue of intervention heavily interrelated with the social world and human beings who coin different meanings to different phenomena like terrorism, it is imperative to use qualitative methodology or approach to this descriptive study. Qualitative research seeks to make the most of a myriad of specific information that can be derived from and about that context, by purposely selecting settings and informants that differ from one another (Babbie & Mouton, 2003:277).Therefore, this research paper relied on the use of the qualitative approach. The research questions are found to be effectively addressed by the qualitative approach by focusing on the Ethiopian intervention in Somalia. First and for most, the concern of the qualitative approach on textual and documentary analysis makes it more appropriate for this research. Secondly, the focus of the qualitative approach with meanings and the way people understand things (Denscombe, 2007:174-175; Ritche and Lewis, 2003:3), makes it the most relevant methodology to this research. The research methodology employed qualitative approach by qualitatively examining and interpreting texts. It examined various debates that revolved on Ethiopian military intervention. The researcher had tried to evaluate its activity in various ways by depending on certain academic literature.

1.5.2. Methods of data collection

I employed various ways to gather data. Sources of data are documents and academic literature. The researcher has both used secondary as well as primary sources of data. These include books, articles, media publications and interviews. The study is organized as a desk study, surveying the available literature on extremists in the Horn of Africa. It draws from scholarly works, reports, policy documents and briefs, where findings, perspectives and positions have been assessed and evaluated .In addition, the researcher had used interview with higher government official from Ministry of foreign affairs and key informant from Institute of Security Studies (ISS).

1.6. Scope of the Study

Ethiopia is one of the countries which had a long year subversion activity with Somalia in their relations ships .Two of them have busily engaged themselves upon subversion activity. The scope of the study covers since the time of Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia in 2006. It mainly focuses on the intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia on December 2006.

1.7. Significance of the Study

This study can be used as a source of material for other researches. It can enable to get information about the intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia. It also invites other researcher to conduct a detail analysis about the intervention. It assists at least to see things in another way in which some people blame its activity by considering Ethiopia as an aggressive state. And the research by itself may not be a glaring enough to explain all things concerning on military intervention in Somalia.

1.8. Limitation of the Study

To gain a much more balanced picture, it would have been important that to critically evaluate different sides.There were some shortcomings while doing such research. One of the problem is bias in scholars. Since it is related to politics, some writers want to express it in their own sight. Some writers highly appreciate the deeds of UIC and they degraded TFG.³ In addition, it was difficult for the researcher to go to Somalia and met higher Somali government officials.

1.9 .Ethical consideration

The researcher had considered ethics which are expected from researcher while conducting the research. An official letter was written from department of political science and international relations to respective institutions for the facilitation of the study. The researcher had asked ³The TFG was established at the Eldoret and Mbagathi conferences held in Kenya from 2002 to2004 under international auspices to unify the Somali factions. After a split in the TFG, one of the factions, led by the speaker of the parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, moved to Mogadishu. consent of key informants and had got response from the concerned body. The study purpose was explained to the key informants on voluntary basis. Key informants have the right to give response on questions which they needed to do so. The right of each respondent to refuse or answer for few or all questions was respected. Names of key informants have been reveled because of their interests.

1.10. Organization of paper

This paper is organized into six chapters. The first chapter presents the problems that the paper aims to examine. In particular it provides an overview of the research topic, the research problem, the research objectives and questions. The second chapter examines the concepts of military intervention and security issues and theoretical concepts of military intervention. Chapter three states about a short historical background of Somalia, Extremism in Somalia. Chapter four discusses on Ethiopia‘s intervention and activities of some states and some unsuccessful attempts of peace process. Chapter five explain about the consequence of intervention at regional and international level and the last chapter discusses about summary and conclusion of the study.