Capture of Mogadishu

Date: December 28, 2006 • Location: Mogadishu, Somalia

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 2006–2009.

Somali Civil War: Troops of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and their Ethiopian allies captured Mogadishu unopposed.

The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, also known as the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia was an armed conflict lasting from mid-2006 to early 2009. It began when Ethiopian military forces, supported by the United States, invaded Somalia to depose the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and install the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The conflict evolved into a military occupation and a rapidly escalating anti-Ethiopian insurgency. By 2008, insurgents had recaptured the majority of territory lost by the ICU during the invasion. The conflict caused the second largest population displacement since 1991.