The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed Forces began engaging in combat against various armed rebel groups, including the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. The clan-based armed opposition groups overthrew the Barre government in 1991.
Major General Siad Barre, Chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Council and President of Somalia
A destroyed M47 Patton in Somaliland, left behind wrecked from the Somaliland War of Independence
Three knocked-out Somali National Army (SNA) M47 Patton medium tanks left abandoned near a warehouse, photographed by U.S. forces in December 1993
An American soldier at the main entrance to the Port of Mogadishu points to identify a sniper's possible firing position (January 1994).
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is on the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of around 17.1 million, of which over 2 million live in the capital and largest city Mogadishu. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis. The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, though the former is the primary language. The people of Somalia are Muslims, the majority of them Sunni.
Neolithic rock art at the Laas Geel complex depicting a long-horned cow.
The Beden is a fast, ancient Somali single or double-masted maritime ship.
The Silk Road extending from China to southern Europe, Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, Persia, India, and Java.
Statue of Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Imam of the Adal Empire.