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[14] 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.[15] Somalia has an estimated population of 18.1 million,[16][17][18] of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis and the official languages of the country are Somali and Arabic, though the former is the primary language. Somalia has historic and religious ties to the Arab world.[19] As such the people in Somalia are Muslims,[20] the majority of them Sunni.[21]
In 2006, with a US-backed Ethiopian intervention, the TFG assumed control of most of the nation's southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups, including the jihadist group al-Shabaab, which battled the TFG and its AMISOM allies for control of the region.[1] By mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory they had seized, and a search for more permanent democratic institutions began.[33] Despite this, insurgents still control much of central and southern Somalia,[34][35] and wield influence in government-controlled areas,[35] with the town of Jilib acting as the de facto capital for the insurgents.[34][36] A new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012,[37][38] reforming Somalia as a federation.[39] The same month, the Federal Government of Somalia was formed[40] and a period of reconstruction began in Mogadishu, despite al-Shabaab frequently carrying out attacks there.[33][41]
^ abcdefg"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. pp.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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