Battle of Jowhar

The Battle of Jowhar was a battle in the 2006 Somali War fought between the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and affiliated militias against Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces for control of the town of Jowhar (located at 2°46′48″N 45°30′08″E / 2.78000°N 45.50222°E / 2.78000; 45.50222Coordinates: 2°46′48″N 45°30′08″E / 2.78000°N 45.50222°E / 2.78000; 45.50222). It began on December 27, 2006, when retreating ICU forces regrouped near their stronghold of Jowhar. It became the last major town and strategic stronghold of the ICU to fall to Ethiopian and TFG forces before the latter overtook Mogadishu two days later.

Background

After failing to contain the TFG/Ethiopian push in the Battle of Baidoa, the ICU had gone into what it called a "tactical retreat", pulling from the front lines towards Mogadishu. Jowhar, a major city which had been taken from the ARPCT in June, had become a stronghold of the ICU and was where many had retreated to. Hundreds of civilian refugees fled Jowhar in anticipation of the fighting, adding to humanitarian concerns created by floods, hunger and disease.

Jowhar

Jowhar (Somali: Jowhaar, Arabic: جوهر‎, Italian: Giohar, formerly Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi) is the capital town of the Middle Shabelle region of Somalia. Along with Baidoa, it used to form the joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government, which it captured from the Islamic Courts Union.

The town lies 90 km (50 mi) along a major road north of the national capital of Mogadishu.

History

Jowhar was founded by a senior member of the Italian Royal Family, H.R.H. Principe Luigi Amedeo, Duca degli Abruzzi in 1920, who first came to the African continent in 1905 and liked the place. The Duke raised funds to build dams, roads, a railway, schools, hospitals, a church and a mosque. He eventually married a Somali woman and died in his village.

Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi

As already stated, the Duca degli Abruzzi founded the eponymous Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi in 1920 as an agricultural settlement in Italian Somalia experimenting with new cultivation techniques. In 1926, the colony comprised 16 villages, with some 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian inhabitants.