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A study of Somalia

For the past few months I've been intrigued with the culture of the East African country and was amazed by my findings. At the same time, acquiring information about the culture of Somalia proved more difficult than what I previously thought for example I was trying to get some information on a local Somali tribe called the 'Shahquaal' however the information I stumbled upon was about the main tribes of the country such as; the Darod, Hawiya and the Isaac tribes. What spurred me on to do further research was the fact that I couldn't get the information on what I initially wanted so I thought 'why not write an article about the whole country' as all I knew about Somalia was what the media showed me or what I could see of the close knitted Somali community that live in London. I gained a brief lesson and gained common knowledge through conversation yet I wanted to find out more as I was sure there's more to the country than pirates and political instability.

A Brief History of Somalia
When many outsiders talk about Somalia, less than favourable topics usually come up which normally bodes well with what the mass media is broadcasting at the time. In fact Somalia has a rich history which dates back to ancient times and even myself who would consider myself knowledgeable on African history did not know facts such as the ancient writing system that Somalia has which has not yet been decoded as they did with the Hieroglyphics of Egypt. As Egypt is mentioned I may as well add that Somalia traded with Ancient Egypt and Mycenaean Greece in antiquity. I got this information from Wikipedia which is the encyclopaedia of the Internet so my sources are not unfounded. Still as a historian I would like to study the history of Somalia and the rest of East Africa in more depth on a short course at university to get a full understanding infact the book 'The State of Africa' by Martin Meredith should have covered East Africa, I just haven't finished the book :) Back to my findings, I also learnt that Ancient Somali's were the first to domesticate camels between the 3rd and second millennium BC then this practice extended to North Africa.

Without background information not many would know that this region was very successful economically. The country was said to be a major place of trade and central place of travel in the olden days.

Present day Somalia

For starters the country has a population of almost 10 million and borders Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Ethnic Somalis also live in other countries such as Kenya (about half a million) Ethiopia (4.6 million), Yemen (close to 1 million), Djibouti (350,000), while there are large Somali communities in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Somalia gained their independence in a very peculiar way and one will not understand the technicalities if they do not have a brief history of the country at the time of the Second World War. British Somaliland gained their independence from Britain on June 26th 1960 while Italian Somaliland gained their sovereignty from Italy (who was granted with a trusteeship by the UN over the country) on the 1st of July 1960 to form the Somali Republic. This resulted in July 1 becoming a national holiday in Somalia.

Rich in natural resources such as Uranium, copper, natural gas and oil reserves, Somalia has more than enough resources to create several jobs and start new industries. For a country so rich in natural resources one will wonder why there is instability in a country like Somalia. If one understands modern day politics or Geo politics it will be much easier to understand the age old concept of 'Divide and Rule' which is exactly what happened in Somalia's case where clans were set against each other by powerful foreign governments. I will mention this later as from my research I learnt that the USA, Russia, Italy and several other countries had great interest in Somalia. Maybe it was the order of the day for western countries to go into Africa and take what they can get, however for different reasons it wasn’t just western countries that had problems with Somalia.

With a life expectancy of 47 years for men and 50 years for women it's not difficult to comprehend that the word poverty is not too far away when you see statistics such as these. A literacy rate of 38 percent will also tell you that there is a lack of infrastructure when it comes to government and education facilities. A sad state of affairs it seems, still I yearn to believe that despite these unfortunate circumstances, the Somali people are still upbeat about life. One may ask what can motivate you after going through conquests upon conquests and tensions with even your neighbouring country.


A Somali way of life

Islam is very important in everyday Somali life and most Somali's are followers of Islam. At one point when Islam was gaining popularity it was also embedded in commerce and business where the successful traders were mostly if not all followers of Islam. Sunni Islam is being practiced throughout the country for over 1300 years. One of the few things you think of when the name Somalia comes up is how paramount Islam is to the Somali people. Islam is so significant that Sharia Law is being used as a means of conflict resolution. This is because the Somali central government is currently obliterated and apart from traditional Somali law there is no better way to local solve conflict. This resulted in several areas of Somalia regressing to eliminating conflict through Sharia Law.

Tensions with Ethiopia
Somalia and Ethiopia has been fierce enemies for centuries where both invaded each other whether it's over religion, Islam and Orthodox Christianity or fighting over the vacant state Ogaden, which is like a 'Jammur and Kashmir' over which India and Pakistan constantly battle to take absolute control.

It is said that the first written record of the word 'Somali' was in 1415 after a war between the two countries and the Ethiopian victor Emperor Yeshaq I had his ‘minstrels’ make a song about the victory.

Only recently the tensions (also over Ogaden) between the countries 'ceased' when Ethiopian troops pulled out of Somalia in January 25 2009.

The Somali Economy

Without the help of a central government, startlingly the country still has a relatively active informal economy.

Money transfer companies, farming, livestock and telecommunications make up the Somalia's financial system. Agriculture remains the top sector, which counts for about 40% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 65% of export earnings according to the CIA world fact book. At the same time most of the population depend on livestock for their food and livelihood.

Telecommunication firms are booming as they provide wireless services and is said to offer the lowest international call rates on the continent. As there is a large amount of Somali's abroad, Remittance exchange companies has grown throughout the country as there is not a formal banking sector due to a lack of central government as I mentioned earlier. Consequently every year these money exchange companies are handling between $500 million and $ 1 billion in transfer of funds from foreign countries (expatriates).

In Mogadishu one can buy the latest goods such as electronic devices which show modernity despite the local tensions the country is currently facing.

A very interesting fact of the country is that businesses print their own money.

Like several other African countries, based on the information I collate, Somalia could well be a prosperous nation for everyone to see, if it wasn’t for outside political interference. The country is rich in oil reserves yet there is local turmoil and a lack of governance to control and use these resources for the benefit of people.

From what I now know I believe Somalia is a country rich in natural resources and with great potential. My reason for saying this is that after going through several crisis’ the country is still operating. Without a central government the economy is still operating relatively well. With a new central government and a new impetus for job creation, we could see Somalia change considerably for the better.

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