Known in
Somali as
Soomaaliya.
A new unitary government of Somalia has recently (2000) been formed, under the presidency of Abdulqassim Salat Hassan. Not all factions recognize it, of course.
As well as the former British zone declaring itself independent Somaliland, a region calling itself Puntland has also set up its own government, though it says it wants to be part of a united Somalia when the time comes. Another region called Jubaland has now also proclaimed self-government.
British Somaliland gained independence on 26 June 1960, Italian Somaliland on 1 July, and united with it to form the Somali Republic. The name was changed to the Somali Democratic Republic on the accession of General Maxamed Siyaad Barre (Mohammed Siad Barre) in a military coup in 1969.
The capital is Muqdisho, also called Xamar in Somali; better known under the forms Mogadishu and Mogadiscio. It is the origin of the name Madagascar, which was labelled in error by early European explorers.
The new transitional government (elected in Djibouti) intended to establish their capital at Baidoa, but President Abdulqassim has remained in Muqdisho, causing the head of the faction controlling Baidoa, the Rahanwein Resistance Army, to leave the government in protest. Another one was elected in Nairobi in October 2004, under the presidency of the Puntland leader Cabdullahi Yuusuf Axmed, which has yet to move into Mogadishu.
The flag of Somalia has always been a white five-pointed star on United Nations blue. The five points stand for the five colonial administrations that the Somali people were divided amongst: Italian, British (in British Somaliland and in Kenya), French, and Abyssinian.