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Somalia, country (1995 est. pop. 7,348,000), 246,200 sq mi (637,657 sq km), E Africa, directly south of the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden, also bordered by Ethiopia and Kenya (W), Djibouti (NW), and the Indian Ocean (E). Mogadishu is the capital; other large cities are Hargeisa, Berbera, and Kismayo. The country is arid and semidesert, with a barren coastal lowland rising to the great interior plateau (generally 3,000 ft/910 m high), which stretches to the northern and western highlands. Pastoralism is the dominant mode of life, and herding (both nomadic and sedentary) of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels is the principal occupation. Livestock, charcoal, bananas, hides, and fish make up the bulk of exports. The major cash crops are bananas, mangoes, and sugarcane; subsistence crops include sorghum and corn. Processing of raw materials constitutes the bulk of the small industry. The most valuable mineral resource is uranium; many other minerals are largely unexploited. Petroleum deposits have been found, and a refinery was built in 1979. However, much industry has been shut down due to civil strife. The Somali, who are the vast majority of the population, are divided into many clans and subclans. There are Italian, Indian, and Pakistani minorities. Islam is the state religion. Somali is the official language, but Arabic, English, and Italian are in wide use.
History
Muslim Arabs and Persians established trading posts along Somalia's coasts from the 7th to 10th cent., and Somali warriors joined Muslim sultanates in their battles with Christian Ethiopia in the 15th and 16th cent. Britain, France, and Italy began to dominate the region in the 19th cent. Britain established a protectorate in 1887 and concluded an agreement with France in 1888 defining their Somali possessions. Italy created a small protectorate in 1889, added territory in the south, and in 1925 detached Jubaland from Kenya. Somali-speaking districts of Ethiopia were combined with Italian Somaliland in 1936 to form Italian East Africa. Britain conquered Italian Somaliland in World War II, and renamed Somalia, it gained internal autonomy in 1956 and independence and unification with British Somaliland in 1960. The presence of some 350,000 Somalis in neighboring countries stirred demands for a Greater Somalia, and fighting erupted with Ethiopia in 1964 over the Ogaden region, which Somalia claims. In 1969 a coup led by Maj. Gen. Muhammad Siyad Barre resulted in a socialist state. In 1977 the corrupt and repressive regime broke with the USSR over Soviet aid to Ethiopia and received aid during the 1980s from the U.S. The Somali army invaded the Ogaden region in 1977 but was defeated (1978) by Ethiopian forces; skirmishes continued into the early 1980s. Barre was ousted (1991) by rebels after intense and bloody fighting. The Somali National Movement gained control of the north, the old British Somaliland, and proclaimed it the Somaliland Republic. The north remained relatively peaceful, although clan-based fighting has occurred. In Mogadishu and most of the south the United Somali Congress achieved control, but savage warfare erupted between rival subclans. Almost a quarter of the population faced starvation because of the fighting. UN food supplies and peacekeepers arrived in 1992 and were soon joined by troops from the U.S. and other nations to assure distribution of food aid. A national cease-fire was signed, but no central government was formed. Fighting again erupted (1993) in Mogadishu as the UN unsuccessfully attempted to arrest Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid. The U.S. and other nations withdrew their troops in 1994 and the last UN forces were withdrawn in 1995. That year some factions again proclaimed Aidid president, but the country remained divided into spheres of influence with no central government. Aidid died from battle wounds in 1996, and his faction chose his son, former U.S. Marine Hussein Mohammed Farah, to succeed him. The country was devastated by floods in 1997, and in the late 1990s was still without any organized, internationally recognized government. Breakaway states were declared in Puntland (NE) and Jubaland (S) in 1998. In 2000 a S Somali conference in Djibouti established a national charter and elected a 225-national assembly and a president, Abdikassim Salad Hassan. Salad returned to Somalia in August, but several militias have refused to recognize the new government (which has little real authority). Somaliland voted (2001) to remain independent, and in 2002 warlords in SW Somalia formed another breakaway government in Baidoa. A cease-fire accord (Oct. 2002) among all major factions except Somaliland failed to halt all fighting, and subsequent talks failed to produce significant results. Meanwhile, the mandate of the essentially symbolic interim government expired in Aug., 2003, but the president withdrew from talks, refused to resign, and had the prime minister (who remained involved in the talks) removed from office.
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Used by permission of Columbia University Press.
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