Africa > East Africa > Somalia

Somalia

Capital: Mogadishu ; GDP growth (annual %)
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Key Facts

Ambassador H.E.Mr.Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim
Population: 9.5 million (UN, 2011)
Area: 637,657sq km (246,201 sq miles)
Major languages: Somali, Arabic, Italian, English
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 50 years (men), 53 years (women)
Monetary unit: 1 Somali shilling = 100 cents
Main exports: Livestock, bananas, hides, fish
GNI per capita: n/a
Internet domain: .so
International dialling code: +252

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    In 2002 South Africa's Parliament unveiled a digital reproduction of a map - of China, the Middle East and Africa - that some speculated could be the initial map of the African continent. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu - the Comprehensive Map of the Great Ming Empire - was drawn up around 1389 during the Ming Dynasty, according to historian Hyunhee Park.

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    There has been a 20-fold increase in the number of global climate change laws since 1997, according to the most comprehensive database of relevant policy and legislation.

    The database, produced by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, includes more than 1,200 relevant policies across 164 countries, which account for 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

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    Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is focusing on five areas to achieve the African and world goals for a prosperous continent since becoming president of the African Development Bank - Africa's major public financial institution in September 2015. He was a keynote speaker at this month's Corporate Council on Africa's U.S.- Africa Business Summit in Washington D.C. and moderated a lively panel with five African government ministers. He as well received the Gene White Lifetime Succcess Award from the World Child Nutrition Foundation. This week, he was named the 2017 recipient of the World Food Prize, a prestigious honor that includes a $250,000 award. In an interview in Washington, DC, Adesina discussed the Development Bank's ambitious schedule and his vision for attracting the increase capital Africa needs. Posting questions for AllAfrica was Noluthando Crockett-Ntonga.

  • Abukar Arman

    2013/01/13

    Just as the temperature of ‘security threat’ slowly declines in Somalia, it rises in other parts of East Africa. Elements of mainly political, religious, and clan/ethnic nature continue to shift and create new volatile conditions. Though not entirely interdependent these conditions could create a ripple effect across different borders.

  • President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

    2012/12/18

    Somali MPs meeting in Mogadishu have elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the country's new president, in the latest step to end decades of war.

    The academic beat President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a run-off poll by 190 to 79 votes, officials said.

    No candidate secured the required two-thirds majority in the first round of voting, conducted by secret ballot.

    It is the first time for years that a president has been chosen on Somali soil, a sign of improving security.

  • Outlook for 2013-14

    2013/07/21

    The country (Somalia) is situated in Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia. It has borders with Djibouti for 58km, Ethiopia for 1600km and Kenya for 682km. Land in Somalia is mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north. Somali land covers an area of 637657 square km²

    The climate is principally desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), moderate temperatures in north and very 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.
    Somali(s) speak Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English.

  • Outlook for 2013-14

    2013/07/21

    The country (Somalia) is situated in Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia. It has borders with Djibouti for 58km, Ethiopia for 1600km and Kenya for 682km. Land in Somalia is mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north. Somali land covers an area of 637657 square km²

    The climate is principally desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), moderate temperatures in north and very 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.
    Somali(s) speak Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English.

  • Mogadishu

    2012/12/18

    Mogadishu  is the major city in Somalia and the country's capital. Located in the coastal Banaadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an significant port for centuries.
    Tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia, including the Mogadishu area, was historically inhabited by hunter-gatherers of Bushman physical stock. These were later joined by Cushitic agro-pastoralists, who would go on to establish local aristocracies. Starting in the late 9th or 10th centuries, Arab and Persian traders as well began to settle in the region.
    During its medieval Golden Age, Mogadishu was ruled by the Somali-Arab Muzaffar dynasty, a vassal of the Ajuuraan National.It subsequently fell under the control of an assortment of local Sultanates and polities, most notably the Gobroon Dynasty. The city later became the capital of Italian Somaliland in the colonial period.