Population: 7-10 Million

Official Language: Somali, Arabic

Somali Capital City: Mogadishu

Somaliland Capital City: Hargeisa

Religion: 99.7% Sunni Muslim

Somalia is a nation that has endured years of turmoil. The Somali people are remarkably homogeneous in their language, culture, and identity. Fiercely independent, Somalis are predominately nomadic or semi-nomadic herders. In 1969, General Mohammed Said Barre seized power and imposed his dictator rule. In 1974, he evicted mission organizations from the country. In 1991, he left the country in desperate poverty. For the last 10 years the country has been in a state of civil war, famine, and destruction.

In May, a reconciliation conference in neighboring Djibouti elected a new president, Abdulkassim Salad Hassan and a 245-member assembly, giving the nation of 7 million people its first central government in nearly a decade. However, faction leaders, who still control most of the country, oppose the new government led by President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.

The Somalis believe that their first ancestor was a member of the Koreish tribe, to which the prophet Mohammed belonged. Today Somalia is almost 100% Islamic.

Freedom of Religion:

There is no constitution and no legal provision for the protection of religious freedom; there were some limits on religious freedom. There is no central government, but some local administrations, including the "Republic of Somaliland" have made Islam the official religion in their regions, in addition to establishing a judicial system based on Shari'a (Islamic law). Citizens are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. There are a small number of non-Sunni Muslims.

. In Somaliland, the number of adherents of radical Islam is growing. During the first 6 months of 1999, there was an influx of foreign Muslims into Hargeisa in Somaliland, reportedly Islamic teachers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan (see Section II). In March 1999, the Minister of Religion in Somaliland issued a list of instructions and definitions on religious practices. Under the new rules, religious schools and places of worship are required to obtain the Ministry of Religion's permission to operate. Entry visas for religious groups must be approved by the Ministry, and certain unspecified doctrines are prohibited. Local tradition and past law make proselytization a crime for any religion except Islam. Christian-based international relief organizations generally operate without interference, provided that they refrain from proselytizing.

There is strong social pressure to respect Islamic traditions, especially in enclaves controlled by radical Islamists, such as Luuq in the Gedo region. In the first 6 months of 1999, there was an influx of foreign Muslim teachers into Hargeisa in Somaliland to teach in new private Koranic schools. These schools are inexpensive and provide basic education; however, there were reports that these schools required the veiling of small girls and other conservative Islamic practices not normally found in Somali culture.