Somalia: Introduction

Somalia is a country in Africa bordered by Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Gulf of Yemen, and the Indian Ocean. Somalia has a strategic location on the Horn of Africa along southern approaches to the Bab el-Mandeb and routes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The geography consists of semidesert, mountains, and highlands. The government system is a federated parliamentary republic; the chief of state is the federal president, or sheikh, and the head of government is the prime minister. Somalia has a traditional economic system in which the majority of the population engages in subsistence livestock and agriculture. Somalia is a member of the League of Arab States (Arab League).