Somalia was created in 1960 when the two territories of a former British protectorate and an Italian colony were merged. Its official name is Somali Democratic Republic. Somalia is situated in East Africa with the longest coastline in Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It shares land borders with Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. Spread over an "area of 637,657sq km with a population of 9.36 million according to 2010 UN estimate" (Sub Saharan Africa), the country has witnessed slow development since it was formed. The vast majority of Somalian population is ethnic Somali in nature. Almost 100% of the population is Muslim, which makes Somalia relatively more homogenous when compared to other African states.
The official region is Sunni Muslim, and they speak more than one language, which are the official Somali, Arabic, Italian and English. In 1991, the country was divided into fragments “led in whole or in part by three distinct entities: the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland in the northwest, and the semiautonomous region of Puntland in the northeast” (2010 Human Rights Report). On the contrary, “ in the reporting period, most local administrations in the south have either been fragmented or have been taken over by Islamist militias” (Transformation : Somalia).
Somalia’s economy operates without a proper public sector management or regulation and any kind of formal economic or monetary policies. However, an energetic informal economy exists in Somalia that is largely based on transnational trade and livestock. There is a relative sophistication and functionality present in commercial infrastructure and institutions. Major industries include argiculture, and principal exports are hides and skins, and bananas. The Somali economy is based on international trade networks, which are controlled by a small group of wealthy businessmen, while the majority of the population continues to live at the subsistence level, engaged in small-scale businesses as petty traders, livestock or grain producers (Transformation : Somalia). The country has a general demand for imports such as food, clothes, electronics, Khat (the narcotic leaf) and cigarettes, and it is this demand that connects Somalia to the world market.
As far as a general, universal judicial system is concerned, Somalia has none. Instead, a combination of traditional law and Islamic law provide the basic judicial framework for most of Somalia’s rural and urban communities. Under traditional law, leaders of the respective clans mediate in case of conflicts, and negotiate peace agreements. If required, compensation payments within and between the clans are also arranged. Somali people “live largely without the protection of the state, access to security or institutional rule of law” (Africa at 50). Human development indicators are uniformly low, which can be seen from the fact that “Somalia has the worst health indicators in Africa with less than 0.5 doctors and two nurses per 100,000 people” (National Archives - Country Profiles).
There is a distinct discrimination as far as access to education is concerned. For instance, the females are often subject to parental restrictions to education, and there are similar trends of exclusion visible among social minorities. In the absence of an organized education system, education has been reorganized according to private interests and means. “With an estimated adult literacy rate of 24%, “Somalia still ranks among countries with the lowest levels of adult literacy worldwide” (Sustainability-Somalia Country Report).
" Works Cited"
"2010 Human Rights Report | ReliefWeb." Home | ReliefWeb. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://reliefweb.int/node/441515>.
"Blog - Qaran News." NEWS – Africe at 50. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.qarannews.com/index.php?option=com_content>.
"Country Profile: Somalia." British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Home. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/sub-saharan-africa/somalia>.
"Somalia." WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. http://www.wfp.org/countries/Somalia/Operations/Food-Aid-for-Emergency-Relief-and-Protection-of-Livelihoods
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