Abstract
Somalia is traditionally a pastoral and nomadic society. Throughout the precolonial era, herders of camels, cattle and sheep lived in a world of "egalitarian anarchy" where the main preoccupation of the clan families was the well-being of the herd. The clan structure functioned cohesively. Somali clans share a common ethnic and linguistic identity but distinguish from each other by lineage, history and custom. Somali society is composed of five principal clan families, the Hawiye, Darod, Isaaq, Dir and Rahanwein. Each clan is divided into five, or more, smaller clans which is in turn divided into sub clans. With the opening of the Suez canal and the competition among Britain, Italy and France for the control of the Horn of Africa, Somalia entered the modern world and international politics. The division and colonization of Somalia in the 1880s into areas under French, Italian and British control was artificial. None of the European powers was interested in the development or unity of Somalia. Independent and unified Somali Republic was declared on July 1, 1960. The main problem at that time was that neither colonial power had prepared the country for self-government. With no cohesive, trained civil service and no accepted political norms, individual rivalries for power quickly took their toll. From 1960 to 1969, democratic civilian government had to face a plethora of competing political parties and the dispersal of patronage on the basis of clan and personal relationships. Lacking military equipment, as early as 1964 Somalia turned to the Soviet Union for arms, and by 1968 the army has fallen under Soviet tutelage.
