Politics

Somalia has had no effective national government since 1991, though there is an internationally recognised government in Baidoa. This government, called the Transitional National Government, controls only Baidoa and is not recognised by most Somalis to be legitimate. The transitional government was appointed abroad, by forces historically opposed to Somali interests such as Ethiopia and various African countries seeking to limit the extent and scope of Somali development and eventual encroachment on occupied Somali lands.

In the northwest, there is the breakaway republic of Somaliland, which declared its independence in 1991. This governing zone is not internationally recognised although it has remained more stable and certainly more peaceful than the south and northeast. Puntland in the northeast declared itself autonomous in 1998 and has not joined the Transitional Government, though the former president of Puntland is now the president of the Baidoa government and Puntland has stated its desire to join a future federated state. In the south-eastern interior, Jubaland and Southwestern Somalia have both joined the Baidoa government, and its leaders are part of the Baidoa parliament.

The other half of the country, with the bulk of the population, was controlled until the end of December 2006 by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which controlled the critically important cities of Mogadishu and, since September 24, 2006, Kismayo. As of 2007, the situation is unstable. The Islamic Courts seek to institute Sharia law in Somalia. Social law changes, such as the forbidding of chewing khat (a popular leafy drug consumed throughout Somalia), and even the prohibition against watching films and sports in public places, have become recent movements by the ICU to change behaviors and impose strict social morals.

On October 14, 2004, Somali members of parliament elected Abdullahi Yusuf, previously president of Puntland, to be the next president. Because of the situation in Mogadishu, the election was held in a sports centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Yusuf was elected transitional President by Somalia's transitional parliament. He won 189 of the 275 votes from members of parliament. The session of Parliament was also held in neighbouring Kenya. His government is recognised by most Western nations as legitimate.

Many other small political organisations exist, some clan-based, others seeking a Somalia free from clan-based politics. Many of them have come into existence since the civil war. In late 2006, the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic controlled only a relatively small portion of the country; by some accounts its control barely extended beyond the limits of its capital city of Baidoa. The political situation remains unstable; for example, on September 18, 2006, Abdullah Yusuf barely survived a suicide attack on his convoy in Baidoa, although twelve other people were killed. Over the course of late December 2006, The Transitional Government, with the aid of Ethiopian troops, extended its control over much of the country, and the Islamists retreated. In January 2007, they were attacked in the remote stronghold of Ras Kamboni in the extreme southern tip of the country.