Somalia at a glance

Somalia became independent in the 1960s, when the two protectorates, Great Britain’s in the South and Italy’s in the North, were unified. A military coup headed by Mohamed Siad Barre in 1969, brought the country into a military regime that very soon shifted into an authoritarian rule which somehow managed to generate a certain degree of balance. After having experienced such ‘stability’, the country precipitated into a civil chaos in 1991 after Siad Barre was overthrown by opposing clans. Since then Somalia, whose territory occupies a strategic and crucial position in the Horn of Africa has been living in full anarchy. Shortly after Barre’s capitulation, the northern region of Somalia self-declared the independent Republic of Somaliland, a country never recognized by other states, which, however, has been preserving a stable existence: the Republic includes today eight administrative districts and it keeps its effort to guarantee democratic representation, holding elections at all levels, local and parliamentary.