republic · Horn and East Africa

Somalia

1991 CE – present · capital Mogadishu

The Somali state since the collapse of 1991, rebuilt slowly through transitional governments into a federal republic still fighting al-Shabaab.

Origins

When Siad Barre fled in January 1991, the Somali Democratic Republic collapsed. Rival factions fought over Mogadishu, and famine in 1992 killed hundreds of thousands, prompting UN and US intervention, which ended after the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The north became the Republic of Somaliland, and Puntland formed as an autonomous state in 1998.

Rule and society

A Transitional National Government formed in 2000 and a Transitional Federal Government in 2004. In 2006 the Islamic Courts Union took Mogadishu, provoking Ethiopian intervention, from which the militant al-Shabaab emerged. African Union troops of AMISOM, from 2007, helped push al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu in 2011. A provisional constitution in 2012 created the Federal Republic of Somalia with federal member states.

To the present

Somalia remains a federal republic with Mogadishu as capital, governed by indirect elections among clan delegates, while al-Shabaab still controls parts of the countryside. Remittances, telecoms and livestock exports sustain the economy.

Lineage

Somali Democratic Republic 1969 CE – 1991 CESomalia

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Somalia. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/somalia
MLA
“Somalia.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/somalia. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Somalia.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/somalia.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Somalia’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/somalia (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻