According to "The World in 2010," printed by The Economist, Somalia is "the worst country on the Earth." The World in 2010 is an annual edition put out by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist. Each year they choose the worst country for the upcoming year. Past "winners" have included Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
According to an article written by Jeffrey Gettleman from The New York Times in 2007, "Top United Nations officials who specialize in Somalia said the country had higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed, and fewer aid workers than Darfur." Similarly, in Dec. 2008, the BBC quoted the United Nations envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, saying, "There is a hidden genocide in Somalia which has sacrificed entire generations."
Somalia is a relatively young country. It gained independence in 1960 and ratified its constitution in 1979. Since then the Somalian government has been under various battling political groups, who have maintained control with minimal stability. Both the U.N. and the Kenyan government have attempted to help create a more stable Somalian government but have achieved little success. According to the C.I.A. World Factbook, Somalia has not had a permanent national government since 1991. Rival battles between competing government factions and warlords, disease, and famine have contributed to more than 1 million deaths, according to BBC.
Somalia is in the process of forming a transitional governing institution, which is called the Transitional Federal Government. In Feb. 2009, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who used to be a high school teacher, became the president and has hope for stability. The United States supported this vision of hope by sending 40 tons of weapons to Somalia to aid Sheik Sharif's government.
Disunification swarms the country, as two areas of Somalia have claimed self-independence. These include the Republic of Somaliland and the semi-autonomous State of Puntland. With stretched resources, little income, and many fighting factions, the Somalian Government remains unable to unify its country. Somalian citizens are also continually at risk from various factions both on land and at sea. Somalians traveling for work or leisure are highly cautioned, due to the high risk of piracy and robbery. While the government has put forth several naval ships and anti-piracy laws, the pirates continue to move about and hold passengers for ransom. Regardless of these laws, Somalia continues to breed piracy because of its geographical location. Somalia is situated on the east coast of Africa and next to it is the Gulf of Aden, which is a dominant shipping passage. From The Economist, the International Maritime Bureau has so far recorded 31 successful hijacks in the first half of 2009.
The turmoil in Somalia can be seen in the drastic increase in refugees, since civil war began in 1991. According to the C.I.A. World Factbook, Somalia has about 1.5 million IDPs, many of whom live in horrifying camps. The U.N. and other countries promise aid but remain hesitant to do so, given the dire conditions and lack of security offered. Aid workers, who have managed to remain, face immense difficulties providing the camps with sufficient water, food, and medical supplies. All Somalians face the struggle to survive, and the life expectancy in the nation is only 50 years. Other statistics are too drastic for most organizations to keep accurate recordings, including the C.I.A. World Factbook. According to the U.N.'s World Food Programme and the Economist, "more than 40 percent of the population [in Somalia] need food aid to survive, and one in every five children is acutely malnourished."
The Economist even went so far as to say, "calling Somalia a country is a stretch." According to The New York Times, about 5,000 African Union peacekeeping forces, which guard the presidential palace, protect the government in Somalia.
Another difficulty is that the government has two radical Islamic groups, Al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, that continually fight for the government's loyalty. The U.S. Government recognizes Al-Shabab to be an al-Qaeda ally, after they assumed responsibility for the bombings in September of 2009 that killed 17 peacekeepers. The U.S. Department of State warns all U.S. citizens from traveling to Somalia. According to the U.S. Department of State's Web site, "There is no U.S. Embassy or other U.S. diplomatic presence in Somalia. Consequently, the U.S. government is not in a position to assist or effectively provide services to U.S. citizens in Somalia."
