Tag: Somalia stamp

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Djibouti 1979, The French also learn to read the writing on the wall

In the late 1950s the French and the British colonial authorities realized there was no way to continue their colonial administration against the will of the African majority. What to do in a place that is majority Arab and welcomed French administration as a buffer between them and the natives. Will France spend up to continue the protection in Djibouti or leave the Arabs to their fate as the British did in Zanzibar in 1965? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Already 2 years after independence, independent Djibouti was heavily into  licensing their name for topical stamp issues. Here we have what was already their second issue of sea shells. The Cypaecassis rufa, or more commonly the red helmet shell, was first cataloged in 1758. It is most common on the west coast of southern Africa in Natal and Mozambique but occasionally as far north as Kenya.

Todays stamp is issue A100, a 10 Franc stamp issued by independent Djibouti on December 22nd, 1979. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled to order.

In colonial times Somaliland was divided into an Italian, a British, and a French part. For the most part the colonies were coastal trading posts with mostly Arab populations that had some affiliation with the Arab traders of Muscat in Oman and Aden in Yemen. The desert interior also held clans of mostly nomadic black Africans. During the war, Italian Somaliland was taken from them and the many Italians that lived there made a quick departure. Into this void the black Somalis arrived. In the late1950s it was decided to allow the British Somaliland to unite with the former Italian one as independent Somalia. France held a plebiscite to give the colony a choice whether to join Somalia. In the runup to the vote a large number of black Somalis appeared in Djibouti to turn the vote. France saw this happening and deported as many of the new arrivals as possible. They also required voter cards to be allowed to vote. It was now the turn of the blacks to claim voter suppression, noting the truth that the percentage of Arabs that voted was far higher than the percentage of blacks. The vote along racial lines was won by those that chose to remain French. Riots ensued and the French had to reinforce their military.

Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen were all quickly arming with mostly Soviet weapons. The British gave up in Aden in 1968. The French military deployment now had to consist of a full brigade of the French Foreign Legion backed up by French navy ships and a squadron of Mirage fighters. Meanwhile the UN was suggesting the French leave Djibouti anyway no matter the vote. The arms given to blacks in Djibouti by Somalia was now backed by further aid from the Organization of African Unity.

France decided in the late 1970s to go ahead and give up on the last European colony in black Africa. The expenses however continued. The new African government decided that it really had no desire to join the failed states of Somalia or Ethiopia. To keep them out, they requested that France keep up fighter planes and Foreign Legion Brigade in independent Djibouti. They stayed another quarter century.

The population of French Somaliland was only about 70,000 at the time of the first independence vote. Now it is about a million with less than a third Arab mostly in enclaves outside Djibouti city. Americans will of course be thrilled to learn that the French military presence was replaced by an American one. The USA deploys 4000 troops to Djibouti. Briefly Saudi Arabia considered building an 18 mile Bridge or the Horns that would connect Djibouti and Yemen and include new build twin Arab cities called Al Noor at both ends of the bridge. The estimates from 10 years ago is that it would cost 20 billion dollars. In 2010 the Saudis decided to indefinitely delay the project after reading their own writing on the wall.

The proposed site of the Bridge of the Horns as seen from space

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait until  there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Warlord Somalia 1997, maybe Barri was right, the Hawiye can’t pull it together

This stamp is not real. There is no evidence that any of the three+ different warlord areas of Somalia circa 1997 had a functioning postal system. Thus whoever printed this stamp either just pretended to have authority to do so or perhaps paid the self proclaimed warlords Minister of Post for the right. Notice the spelling of Somalia is not even the local way. Cute dog though. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Between 1969 and 1991, Somalia had a socialist government under former General Barre. Barre tried to regain what he thought were more traditional Somali borders incorporating areas of Ethiopia gained in WWII and he hoped that French Somaliland  would join with Somalia when it decolonized. This might lead to less fighting between clans and a better chance at progress. He also attempted a move from Arabic to the Latin alphabet as a precursor to a literacy push.

His efforts made many enemies. Trying to retake part of Ethiopia in the chaos after Emperor Selassie was deposed lead to a big war. The eastern bloc cut off arms to him and gave heavy support to the Derg in power in Ethiopia. His attempt to send many Somalis to vote on Djibouti’s plebiscite on their future was not successful. Now Barri had estranged himself from East, from West, and from religious leaders. Trouble was coming.

Several former leaders in Barre’s period formed what they called the United Somali Congress with a political arm in Rome and a military arm in Ethiopia. It leaders were all members of the Hawiye clan. Obviously such a thing would be a front but I wonder if their backers realized they were just one clan of many. The leaders were Muhammed Farah Aided and Ali Mahdi. Aidid, a former General, intelligence chief, and Ambassador to India. He was trained at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union. Ali Mahdi was an “entrepanuer”. After Barri was forced out of Mogadishu in 1991 the United Somali Congress became less than united. Mahdi was named interim President at a conference in Djibouti that was boycotted by Aidid. Aidid then also declared himself President. Northern Somali, the old British part, did not recognize either and declared itself independent.

Into this warlord mess western powers sent military force in to protect aid shipments to the people and became targets. The USA/UN decided Aidid was the problem and began siding against him. This lead to the famous Blackhawk Down battles. Interestingly Aidid’s son Hussein was serving in the USA Marines having immigrated to the USA at age 17. He functioned as a translator as no Marines spoke Somali. There doesn’t seem any sense that they realized who he was or what his loyalties if any, were. The USA/UN mission ended and the warlord period continued. In 1996 Hussein left the Marines and became a naturalized USA citizen. In 1996 Aidid was killed and the Hawiye clan named Hussein the new head of the clan. Remember his father had declared himself President and now his son did the same.

Hussein was more willing to negotiate. He withdrew his Presidential claims and accepted a role of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works, as if there were any, in a new Djibouti formed transitional government. This was done to get western aid flowing again. He was now marketing himself as leader opposed to Al Queda infiltration. He went into exile in 2008 with a big pile of money.

Well my drink is empty. I would pour another to toast the handsome dogs of Somalia but all the wasted aid lavished on Somalia has left those of us in the West and East strapped. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Somalia 1982, Somalia tries to build a new country but wars turn the tide

Somalia had been a crossroads for Africans, Arabs, and colonial Europeans. Making a coherent country proved too difficult a task for Socialist, Arab, Black General/President Siad Barre. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I like the aesthetics of todays stamp. Showing Mogadishu history as an ancient trading post with interesting Kasbahs and intrigues. The city was the capital and a city of 500,000 with pretentions of a brighter Somali future. Honoring the past is a part of that and one thing these socialist stamp issues did really well.

Todays stamp is issue A117, an 8.30 Somali Shilling stamp issued by Somalia on May 31st, 1982. It showed a coastal view of the old part of Mogadishu. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations issued between 1980 and 1983 showing views of different cities. Not my stamp, but you will often find a tag attached to this issue of stamps showing a map of Somalia with the city being shown highlighted. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.75 whether mint or used.

Mogadishu was founded as a trading post by the Persians. For the bulk of its history, it was under the influence of the Sultan of Zanzibar, whose Royal line is still in power in Oman. When the Italians colonized the area they chose it as their capital. At the time the clans that today might be considered Somali were under Italian, British, French, and Ethiopian rule. Britain cleared the Italians from Somalia during WWII but the Somalia was returned to Italy under a mandate from the United Nations in 1946. Independence was achieved for the former British and Italian part in 1960. It was very poor and uneducated.

In 1969, the President of Somalia was assassinated by his bodyguards while away from the Capital. General Siad Barre than declared himself President and suspended the constitution that had been written by the Italians. He was a Marxist who had been trained by the British, the Italians and the Soviets. He started a program of nation building. There were large public works programs aimed at planting trees to protect towns and cities from being encroached by the ever present sand storms, perhaps Barre’s most lasting legacy. The military was expanded with Soviet help and Somalis were sent in large numbers to Djibouti to influence votes on the future scheduled there.

A military portrait of President Barre near the time he took power

President Barre also worked to end the clan system by banning it. It is said that he progressed far enough in that the first question a Somali asks another when meeting changed from “What clan are you?” to “What clan did you used to be?” He had proposed the first question to be “What do you know?”, but lets face it, that question would have been met by blank stares. He promoted the use of the Somali language requiring government employees to be able to speak and write it. This was to replace Italian still spoken in higher circles but leaving out the bulk of the country. President Bari promoted the work of noted Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed who proposed preparing for the large literacy drives by simplifying and standardizing the language and changing the written script  from Arabic to Latin script as had been done successfully in Turkey under Atatürk. In this he received a great deal of push back from militant Muslims who sneered that Latin script denoted no religion. Literacy did pick up in the cities but also sowed seeds that would eventually lead to President Barre’s fall.

Another big demerit in Barre’s rule was failed attempts to bring all Somalis into a greater Somalia. The efforts in Djibouti were peaceful but unsuccessful as France deported many Somalis before the vote on the future. The vote then went in favor of staying French. The Army in 1977 then launched an attack on Ethiopia that sought to bring the Ogaden desert into Somalia. There was some early success but both countries were then in close partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviets sided with larger Ethiopia and the resupply and 30,000 Cuban troops was enough to turn the tide against Somalia. The defeats and the end of Soviet aid weaken Barre immeasurably. By the late 1980s, Barre was older and weakened physically by a bad car wreck. Former deputy and future warlord of “Blackhawk Down” fame Mohamed Farrah Aidid rose up against Barre and pushed him out of Mogadishu in 1991 and then into exile in Nigeria, where he died in 1996. The Civil War that followed ran hot and cold ever since and has squelched any hope of creating a coherent country.

Similar view as stamp post civil war showing the area now in ruins

Stamps were issued post 1991. They are not recognized by the catalogs as the postal system within the country ended at the beginning of the civil war. There is no clarity on who is issuing the stamps and they are of no postal use.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the American, Italian, and other soldiers that entered Mogadishu in 1992 under the UN in a failed attempt to save Somalis from themselves. It probably sounded good to the leadership but was an impossible mission. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.