Shiinaha oo sheegay inuu garab taagan yahay ilaalinta Midnimada iyo Madaxbannaanid Soomaaliya
General Editor 
The Somali capital Mogadishu, December 1969
Since this picture was taken, Somalia has experienced almost continual conflict and insecurity. Here, we chart a brief history of the country. The story begins in 1950, when Italian Somaliland (southern Somalia) became a UN trust territory under Italian administration. Renamed Somalia six years later, the country was granted internal autonomy and subsequently held its first elections, won by the Somali Youth League. In July 1960, both British and Italian Somaliland were granted independence, uniting to form the independent Republic of Somalia. Aden Abdullah Osman Daar became the first president, but the new country’s borders were not clearly defined, and there were border skirmishes and hostilities with Kenya and Ethiopia throughout the 1960s
Photograph: Miniclier/AP
Somalian prime minister Abdurashid Ali Shermarke, shown on the right, with the Somalian president Aden Abdullah Osman Daar (L). In 1967, the president was defeated in elections by his former prime minister, Abdirashid Ali ShermarkePhotograph: -/AFP/Getty Images.
On 15 October 1969, President Shermarke was assassinated by a member of his own police force. Mohamed Siad Barre, pictured, seized power in the subsequent coup, and in 1970 declared Somalia a socialist state, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and subjecting the country to his ideology of ‘scientific socialism’
In 1974, Somalia joined the Arab League. In 1977-78, Somali forces invaded the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, an area inhabited by Somalis that had been the subject of border hostilities in the 1960s. The Somali troops were forced out by the Soviets and Cubans, prompting Barre to expel his Soviet advisers and strengthen ties with the US. Somalia and Ethiopia signed a peace accord in 1988.
The feudal struggles and civil discord that followed the failure of Barre’s administration led to a serious humanitarian crisis in Somalia, prompting action from the international community. Here, a mother mourns the death of her son
In 1992, the US military arrived in Somalia. Operation Restore Hope involved protecting food packages from warlords. The following year, Somali rebels shot down two US helicopters, leading to a battle in which hundreds of Somali citizens were killed
On 24 September 2001, the UN announced the withdrawal of all its international staff from Somalia, saying it was no longer able to guarantee their safety. The following year, the US announced increased military operations in the country, which it suspected of being an al-Qaida refuge
Source: The guardian