AP News, December 26th, 2006
History of Somalia since the collapse of the last effective central government:
_ January 1991: President Mohamed Siad Barre is overthrown by clan-based rebels, who quickly turn on each other.
_ April 1992: Massive U.N. relief operation begins to help thousands of civilians left starving because of fighting. More than 100,000 people died between 1991-92.
_ August 1992: U.S. planes begin delivering food to Somalia, within a month U.S. Marines arrive to guard it.
_ January 1993: U.S. stages first airstrike on warlord's headquarters.
_ October 1993: Militiamen shoot down Blackhawk helicopter, 18 servicemen die in crash and subsequent rescue attempt. U.S. troops reduce combat operations against warlords.
_ March 1994: U.S. troops withdraw from Somalia, leaving a U.N. peacekeeping operation in place.
_ March 1995: U.S. Marines escort the last U.N. peacekeepers out of Somalia, ending a two-year, $2 billion relief operation.
_ August 1998: Simultaneous suicide bombings destroy the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more than 200 Africans and 12 Americans. The ringleaders flee to Somalia.
_ November 2002: An al-Qaida cell attacks an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya, killing 15, and attempts to shoot down an Israeli-owned airliner. Investigators believe the same men responsible for the embassy bombings planned the attacks, and again fled to Somalia afterward.
_ March 2003: Warlord Mohammed Dhere captures a suspect in the 1998 bombings and turns him over to U.S. authorities, via Kenya. There are reports he has captured other suspected al-Qaida members and turned them over to U.S. authorities as well.
_ October 2004: After two years of U.N.-sponsored talks, Somalia warlords and civilian leaders meeting in Nairobi agree on a new government with former Col. Abdullahi Yusuf as president.
_ March 2005: Islamic leader Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former army colonel, threatens a holy war if foreign troops enter Somalia again, pledges to establish an Islamic government.
_ Feb. 26: U.N.-backed parliament meets for the first time inside Somalia, in the central town of Baidoa.
_ June 5: Militias loyal to the Council of Islamic Courts drive the warlords from Mogadishu.
_ June 30: Osama bin Laden releases a tape calling on Muslims to support the Islamic courts and to open a third front in the war against the United States in Somalia.
_ Sept. 18: The first suicide bombing in Somali history targets President Abdullahi Yusuf.
_ Oct. 9: The Council of Islamic Courts declares holy war on Ethiopia.
_ Dec. 6: The U.N. Security Council authorizes a regional peacekeeping force for Somalia.
_ Dec. 19: The first direct fighting between the Islamic courts and troops from the Somali government and Ethiopia begins.
_ Dec. 25: Ethiopian jets bomb Mogadishu-area airports.
_ Dec. 26: Government soldiers, joined by Ethiopian troops, advance toward the capital; Islamic fighters, who have threatened suicide attacks, promise a "new phase" in the war.
