U.S. spy drone crashes in Somalia
[Monday]
Editing by Carolyn Bennett
A U.S. unmanned spy plane crashed on Monday in southeastern Somalia near the Somali port city of
Kismayo as it reportedly was helping Kenyan troops monitor the port city [Press
TV correspondent attributes Somali military officials].
 |
| Displaced woman and child at the Horn or Africa |
Strategically located in the Horn
of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number
of refugees and internally displaced people in the world.
Last month, U.S.-allied Kenya dispatched
soldiers to Somalia and began air and ground
offensives against al-Shabab
fighters. Tension has been growing between the Somali government backed by
Kenyan troops and al-Shabab fighters since they engaged in fierce battle over
control of towns in south Somalia.
Sources and notes
“U.S. spy drone crashes in Somalia,” November
8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/209011.html
SOMALIA 2006 background
Area: 637,000 sq km (246,000 sq
mi), including the 176,000-sq-km (68,000-sq-mi) area of the unilaterally
declared (in 1991) and unrecognized Republic of Somaliland
Population: (2006 est.): 8,496,000 (including 3,700,000 in Somaliland); at the beginning of the year, more than 250,000 refugees were in neighbouring countries, and an additional 100,000 resided in Europe or the United States
Capital: Mogadishu; Hargeysa is
the capital of Somaliland
Head of state and government:
Somalia’s government under President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan was barely
functioning in 2006; a new transitional government comprised President
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, assisted by Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Ghedi (as of
February 26, in exile in Baidoa).
After a decade of stagnation, 2006 was a year of revolutionary upheaval in Somalia, featuring the dramatic rise and fall of the Council of Islamic Courts of Somalia (CSIC).
Fears of renewed conflict in
Somalia triggered a humanitarian crisis in Kenya as thousands of Somalis poured
across the border, seeking asylum.
By October, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees had counted more than 30,000 new arrivals, and
the flow continued at over 1,000 per day.
In December, following Islamist
attacks on government positions near the Somali town of Baidoa, Ethiopian
forces intervened in support of the TFG [Transitional Federal Government],
routing the CSIC militias and seizing control of Mogadishu and Kismayo.
The turmoil in southern Somalia
seemed likely to lend impetus to the self-declared Republic of Somaliland’s
efforts to obtain international recognition. Somaliland’s achievements toward
peace, stability, and constitutional democracy (all three levels of Somaliland’s
government were elected) were met with growing acknowledgment from the
international community.
In June, Somaliland Pres. Dahir
Riyale Kahin paid official visits, for the first time, to Kenya, Tanzania,
Rwanda, Zambia, and Uganda. This diplomatic breakthrough, however, was offset
on the home front by economic stagnation and a political deadlock between an
opposition-controlled House of Representatives and a pro-government Gurti
(upper house). Britannica 2006 update
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