Somalia,[a] officially the Federal Republic of Somalia,[b] is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti[16] to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the east. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland.[17] Somalia has an estimated population of 18.1 million,[18][19][20] of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu. Around 85% of Somalia's residents are ethnic Somalis; the official languages of the country are Somali and Arabic, though Somali is the primary language. Somalia has historic and religious ties to the Arab world.[21] As such the people in Somalia are Muslims,[22] the majority of them Sunni.[23]
At the end of 2006, a US-backed Ethiopian invasion overthrew the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), leading to the installation of the TFG in Mogadishu under an Ethiopian military occupation.[35][36] The subsequent insurgency which emerged saw the ICU fragment into various rebel factions, including the hardline group al-Shabaab, which waged a protracted conflict against Ethiopian forces.[36] al-Shabaab soon began asserting territorial control for the first time,[37] and by late 2008 the insurgency had driven the Ethiopian army out of much of Somalia.[38] In 2009, a new TFG government was established.[39][40] By mid-2012, al-Shabaab lost most of its territories during fighting against the TFG and African Union troops.[41] That same year, al-Shabaab pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.[42] The insurgents still control much of central and southern Somalia,[43][44] and wield influence in government-controlled areas,[44] with the town of Jilib acting as the de facto capital for the insurgents.[43][45]
^"The Government". Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
^Ali, Maryan (2024). "Language Policy in Somaliland and Somalia". In Lisanza, Esther Mukewa; Muaka, Leonard (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Language Policies in Africa. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 511–524. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_24. ISBN9783031573071.
^ abcdef"Somalia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 10 November 2021. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
^Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.), English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN3-12-539683-2
^Truhart, P. (1984). Regents of nations: systematic chronology of states and their political representatives in past and present : a biographical reference book. p. 72
^Suárez, Jorge Alejandro. Geopolítica de lo Desconocido: Una visión diferente de la Política Internacional. p. 227. ISBN979-8393720292.
^Abdisalam M. Issa-Salwe (1996). The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: Haan Associates. pp. 34–35. ISBN1-874209-91-X.
^The Illustrated Library of The World and Its Peoples: Africa, North and East, Greystone Press: 1967, p. 338.
^"Member States". Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
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