Somalia
Federal Republic of Somalia
Capital: Mogadishu
The Somalia Bulletin
Weekly Brief: October 12, 2015
Top Story Russia announced on Monday that its “volunteer” ground forces would join the fighting in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he will not send Russian soldiers to Syria, but the plan to deploy irregulars parallels Russian operations in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. The news comes as Russia intensified airstrikes it began last […]
Weekly Brief: April 27, 2015
Top Story American President Barack Obama acknowledged on Wednesday that an American drone strike on an al Qaeda compound along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in January killed two hostages, an American and an Italian. Mr. Obama claimed that the mistake was due to faulty intelligence, and that American officials had no reason to believe the hostages […]
Weekly Brief: April 20, 2015
Africa Al-Shabab militants drove a car loaded with explosives into a government compound in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Tuesday. After the explosion, gunmen stormed the government offices and killed at least 17 people, including eight civilians and two soldiers. Security guards and Somali special forces soldiers eventually managed to secure the building, killing five attackers.
Weekly Brief: March 30, 2015
Middle East Fighting in Yemen continued to escalate this week. On Wednesday, the Houthi rebels seized an airbase as they moved closer to the city of Aden, where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sheltered. By Thursday, Mr. Hadi had briefly sought shelter in Oman before moving on to Riyadh. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia led airstrikes against the Houthis in […]
Weekly Brief: March 23, 2015
Africa On Wednesday, gunmen stormed a museum in Tunis, Tunisia, killing 22 people and injuring at least 22 more. Tunisian security forces killed two attackers in the ensuing firefight, but three remained at large. No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but local groups affiliated with al Qaeda are active in the country, and the […]
History
Britain withdrew from British Somaliland in 1960 to allow its protectorate to join with Italian Somaliland and form the new nation of Somalia. In 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed SIAD Barre ushered in an authoritarian socialist rule characterized by the persecution, jailing, and torture of political opponents and dissidents. After the regime's collapse early in 1991, Somalia descended into turmoil, factional fighting, and anarchy. In May 1991, northern clans declared an independent Republic of Somaliland that now includes the administrative regions of Awdal, Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sanaag, and Sool. Although not recognized by any government, this entity has maintained a stable existence and continues efforts to establish a constitutional democracy, including holding municipal, parliamentary, and presidential elections. The regions of Bari, Nugaal, and northern Mudug comprise a neighboring semi-autonomous state of Puntland, which has been self-governing since 1998 but does not aim at independence; it has also made strides toward reconstructing a legitimate, representative government but has suffered some civil strife. Puntland disputes its border with Somaliland as it also claims portions of eastern Sool and Sanaag. Beginning in 1993, a two-year UN humanitarian effort (primarily in the south) was able to alleviate famine conditions, but when the UN withdrew in 1995, having suffered significant casualties, order still had not been restored. In 2000, the Somalia National Peace Conference (SNPC) held in Djibouti resulted in the formation of an interim government, known as the Transitional National Government (TNG). When the TNG failed to establish adequate security or governing institutions, the Government of Kenya, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), led a subsequent peace process that concluded in October 2004 with the election of Abdullahi YUSUF Ahmed as President of a second interim government, known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of the Somali Republic. The TFG included a 275-member parliamentary body, known as the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP). President YUSUF resigned late in 2008 while United Nations-sponsored talks between the TFG and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) were underway in Djibouti. In January 2009, following the creation of a TFG-ARS unity government, Ethiopian military forces, which had entered Somalia in December 2006 to support the TFG in the face of advances by the opposition Islamic Courts Union (ICU), withdrew from the country. The TFP was doubled in size to 550 seats with the addition of 200 ARS and 75 civil society members of parliament. The expanded parliament elected Sheikh SHARIF Sheikh Ahmed, the former ICU and ARS chairman as president in January 2009. The creation of the TFG was based on the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC), which outlined a five-year mandate leading to the establishment of a new Somali constitution and a transition to a representative government following national elections. In 2009, the TFP amended the TFC to extend TFG's mandate until 2011 and in 2011 Somali principals agreed to institute political transition by August 2012. The transition process ended in September 2012 when clan elders appointed 275 members to a new parliament replacing the TFP and the subsequent election, by parliament, of a new president.
Geography
Metric Units
| Total Area | 637,657 sq km |
| Land Boundaries | 2,340 km |
| Border Countries | Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia 1,600 km, Kenya 682 km |
| Coastline | 3,025 km |
| Terrain | mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north |
| Minimum Elevation | 0 m |
| Maximum Elevation | 2,416 m |
| Climate | principally desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), moderate temperatures in north and hot in south; southwest monsoon (May to October), torrid in the north and hot in the south, irregular rainfall, hot and humid periods (tangambili) between monsoons |
| Natural Resources | uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves |
| Arable Land | 1.73% |
| Permanent Crops | 0.05% |
Economy
| Gross Domestic Product | $5.9 billion |
| GDP (per capita) | $600 |
| GDP Growth | 2.6% |
| Unemployment Rate | No data% |
| Population in Poverty | No data% |
| GINI Index | No data |
Budget & Debt
| Expenditures | $No data |
| Revenue | $No data |
| Current Account Balance | $No data |
| External Debt | $2.94 billion |
Trade
| Exports | $515.8 million |
| Export Items | livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal, scrap metal |
| Export Partners | UAE 51%, Yemen 19.1%, Oman 12.9% (2011) |
| Imports | $1.26 billion |
| Import Items | manufactures, petroleum products, foodstuffs, construction materials, qat |
| Import Partners | Djibouti 26.6%, India 13.6%, Kenya 6.9%, Pakistan 6.3%, China 6.1%, Egypt 4.8%, Oman 4.8%, UAE 4.6%, Yemen 4.3% (2011) |
People
| Population | 10,251,568 |
| Population Growth | 1.67% |
| Ethnic Groups | Somali 85%, Bantu and other non-Somali 15% (including 30,000 Arabs) |
| Religion | Sunni Muslim (Islam) (official, according to the Transitional Federal Charter) |
| Life Expectancy | 51.19 years |
| Infant Mortality | 1.01 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Maternal Mortality | 4.1 deaths/100,000 live births |
Energy
| Electricity Production | 315 million kWh |
| Electricity Consumption | 293 million kWh |
| From Fossil Fuels | 93.8% |
| From Nuclear | 0% |
| From Hydroelectric | 6.3% |
| From Renewable Sources | 0% |
