Government

The streets I described on the first day are not all that different from everywhere else in Somalia. The main reason for all the violence is the terrorist group, al-Shabaab. In 1991, the last president of Somalia,President Siad Barre, was overthrown by the warlords of Somalia.  For the next twenty or so years, there have been countless attempts to seat another president and create a more stable government, but the warlords were too strong and the central government did not have the resources or the influence to take down the established warlords. Paired with severe droughts and widespread anarchy, Somalia fell into despair and some half a million people died from famine. 

In 2006, the Islamist terrorist group, al-Shabaab, rose up and dominated most of south Somalia, even claiming the capital city. With a terrorist group in charge, there was no positive change and the region remained under turmoil. 

It was not until 2012 that the United Nations established an internationally- backed central government. Since then, the new Federal Republic of Somalia has created sucesss by driving out al-Shabaab, however they continue to violate their people's human rights.

The link below will take you to the World Report 2014 of Somalia. I included this link to demonstrate how, even though there has been little progress in Somalia, it is slowly becoming more stable, despite some human rights violations.


World Report 2014: Somalia

I assume that the members of the United Nations only helped Somalia because they were growing tired of the Somalian pirates raiding trade ships that passed out of the Suez Canal, into the Red Sea, and past Somalia. Geographically, Somalia is a prime area for trading because of its nearness to the markets in other middle eastern countries, but its lack of economy prevents it from establishing trade.