Portal:Somalia

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Intro

Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال‎ transliteration: aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال‎ transliteration: Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is located on the Horn of Africa in East Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the north-west, Kenya on its south-west, the Gulf of Aden on its north, the Indian Ocean at its east and Ethiopia to the west. The Somali state currently exists solely in a de jure capacity; Somalia has no recognized central government authority nor any other feature associated with an established independent state. De facto authority resides in the hands of the governments for the unrecognized entities of Somaliland and Puntland and the United Nations-recognized, interim Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which until recently controlled only Baidoa. Violence has plagued Mogadishu, the capital, since warlords ousted former President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Did you know...

• ...that the Somali people number at least 12 million people, out of which around 9 million live in Somalia?

• ...that Somalia has the longest coastline on the African continent?
• ...that the northern part of Somalia has been de facto independent as Somaliland since 1991?
• ...that the Laas Geel cave paintings (pictured), located near Hargeysa, are 4,000–11,000 years old?
• ...that the Fakr ad-Din mosque is one of the oldest Islamic buildings in East Africa?
• ...that Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a Somali nationalist leader, fought against the British, the Italians, and the Ethiopians?

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