SUMMARY
On 1 July 1960, the Italian and British Somaliland, having gained independence, formed one state, the United Republic of Somalia. From the inception of independence, many of the ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia and Kenya wanted to join the newly formed Somali state and the Somali government supported the concept of self-determination for the people of the Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, and French Somaliland (now Djibouti, including the right to be united within a greater Somalia. This stance became particularly contentious with regards to Ogaden and the interstate conflict that broke out between Somalia and Ethiopia intermittently in the course of three decades (in 1960, 1964, 1973, 1983 and 1987).
Internally, the multi-party democratic form of governance that was set up at independence was abruptly ended in 1969 with a bloodless military coup. The Supreme Revolutionary Council, under the leadership of General Siad Barre, established a socialist political system under military rule. The Barre regime outlawed the clan system that deeply characterizes the Somali society, forged close ties to the Soviet Union and imposed a Somali brand of "scientific socialism". After a 1978 setback on the Ogadeni battlefront, a military faction consisting of officers from the Darod clan (Marjeeten sub-clan) unsuccessfully launched a military coup. In 1979, the military rule was replaced by a presidential one-party rule with Barre at the helm.
In the 1980s, the Barre regime became more and more dominated by the leaders own Marehan clan (in contradiction to its ideology) and increasingly repressive towards other clans. The authoritarianism incited popular discontent and largely clan-based armed resistance started to sprout, marking the beginning of the intrastate conflict which has continued well into the 21st century. For the remainder of the 1980s, these groups waged guerrilla warfare in different parts of the country with the aim of overthrowing the regime. Towards the end of the decade, the main rebel groups coalesced militarily and managed to overthrow the Barre regime on 26 January 1991.
However, in the power vacuum after Barres fall the various clan-based armed (and highly fractious) militias began to violently compete for government power and thus pushing the intrastate conflict to the degree of state collapse. As the Somali state lost central authority, the north-western region took the chance to self-declare the independent Republic of Somaliland in 1991. At the beginning of the 21st century the Somali intrastate conflict over government persisted, however, with some new forms of resistance (for example with more Islamist undercurrents) and more robust attempts at forging central administrations (like the 2000 Transitional National Government (TNG) and the 2004 Transitional Federal Government (TFG)).
In 2007 TFG President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed, together with most of the government, was able to move into Mogadishu, as the ARS/UIC (Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia/Union of Islamic Courts) had been ousted. The government, however, remained challenged by rebel groups and has been struggling to gain control of Somalia. In December 2008, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned and was replaced by Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmad, a former leader in the ARS/UIC. In August 2012, the transitional period for the internationally sanctioned government of Somalia ended and a few weeks later a new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohammud, was elected by an assembly. Ever since, the Government of Somalia has remained challenged by rebel groups and struggled to gain control of Somalia. Main insurgent group al-Shabaab was however unable to severely disrupt the 2017 elections, which saw Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed elected as the new President of Somalia.
In its battle against al-Shabaab, the Somali government has received armed support from both the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and individual actors such as the United States.
