Somalia

Somalia (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال الفدرالية), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is shaped like the number seven. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest.

Somalia Flag

Quotes

The Somali health system is at the moment in a state of crisis. They [aid agencies] will face difficulties in continuing to provide lifesaving health services at the scale that is required as a result mainly of the declining humanitarian funding. ~ Abdurahman Sharif

• Allow me to break down the facts of hunger as they stand right now. 811 million people are chronically hungry. 283 million are in hunger crises — they are marching toward starvation. And within that, 45 million in 43 countries across the globe are in hunger emergencies — in other words, famine is knocking on their door. Places like Afghanistan. Madagascar. Myanmar. Guatemala. Ethiopia. Sudan. South Sudan. Mozambique. Niger. Syria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Haiti and on and on and on. The world has often experienced famine. But when has it ever been so widespread, in so many places, at the same time? Why? Three reasons. First, man-made conflict. Dozens of civil wars and regional conflicts are raging, and hunger has been weaponized to achieve military and political objectives. Second, climate shocks /climate change. Floods, droughts, locusts and rapidly changing weather patterns have created severe crop failures around the world. Third, COVID-19. The viral pandemic has created a secondary hunger pandemic, which is far worse than the first. Shutdowns destroyed livelihoods. Shutdowns stopped the movement of food. Shutdowns inflated prices. The net result is the poor of the world are priced out of survival. The ripple effect of COVID has been devastating on the global economy. During the pandemic, $3.7 trillion in incomes — mostly among the poor — have been wiped out, while food prices are spiking. The cost of shipping food, for example, has increased 3 – 400%. But in places of conflict and low-income countries, it is even worse. For example, in Aleppo, Syria — a war zone, where I just returned from — food is now seven times more expensive than it was 2 years ago. The combined effect of these three — conflict, climate and COVID — has created an unprecedented perfect storm.
  • David Beasley, Nobel Peace Prize lecture of World Food Programme, 10 December 2021

• The Battle of Mogadishu was the fiercest urban combat the military had participated in since the Vietnam War, and it left 18 American servicemen and an unknown number of Somalis dead. Images of jeering Somalis dragging an American corpse through the streets infuriated the U.S. public (and Congress), compelling President Bill Clinton to withdraw American forces from Somalia.
  • Brian D'Haeseleer, “Are we mishandling the war on terror in Africa?”, The Washington Post, (December 7, 2018).

• According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Philips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there.
  • Mark Finema, “COLUMN ONE : The Oil Factor in Somalia : Four American petroleum giants had agreements with the African nation before its civil war began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored.”, Los Angeles Times, (01/18/1993).

• The building [National Library of Mogadishu] should restore Somalia's history for future generations.
  • Zainab Hassan, the project director of the National Library of Mogadishu that fell in ruins in Somalia, quoted on BBC News, "Somalia to rebuild national library", December 19, 2013.

Historic Somalia

• Since 2011, Turkey has made a concentrated effort to provide the Somali people's basic needs: security, education, health, institutional capacity building, the building of state institutions, roads, ports, airports, fisheries and energy. Compared with 2011, today, Somalia is in much better position
• Turkish doctors have offered health services to half a million Somalis, so far [Kalin on Turkish doctors' charity programs in Somalia]
  • Turkish presidency spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, issues statements underlining importance of Istanbul business forum as part of Turkey’s engagement in Africa, quoted on Yeni Safak, "Turkey always backs Somalia: Turkish presidency spokesman", February 24, 2016.

• The Somali health system is at the moment in a state of crisis. They [aid agencies] will face difficulties in continuing to provide lifesaving health services at the scale that is required as a result mainly of the declining humanitarian funding.
  • Abdurahman Sharif, director of the Somalia NGO Consortium, a group of local and international aid agencies including Save the Children and Norwegian Refugee Council, quoted on Voice of America, "Aid Cuts Trigger Health Crisis in Somalia", February 22, 2016.