acific Ocean
INTELSAT earth station

:Solomon Islands Defense Forces

Branches:
Police Force
Manpower availability:
NA
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $NA, NA% of GDP

:Somalia Geography

Total area:
637,660 km2
Land area:
627,340 km2
Comparative area:
slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries:
2,340 km total; Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia 1,600 km, Kenya 682 km
Coastline:
3,025 km
Maritime claims:
Territorial sea:
200 nm
Disputes:
southern half of boundary with Ethiopia is a Provisional Administrative
Line; territorial dispute with Ethiopia over the Ogaden; possible claims to
Djibouti and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya based on unification of ethnic
Somalis
Climate:
desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), cooler southwest monsoon
(May to October); irregular rainfall; hot, humid periods (tangambili)
between monsoons
Terrain:
mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north
Natural resources:
uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite,
copper, salt
Land use:
arable land 2%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 46%; forest and
woodland 14%; other 38%; includes irrigated 3%
Environment:
recurring droughts; frequent dust storms over eastern plains in summer;
deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Note:
strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el
Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

:Somalia People

Population:
7,235,226 (July 1992), growth rate 2.1% (1992)
Birth rate:
46 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
13 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
-12 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
115 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
56 years male, 57 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
7.1 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Somali(s); adjective - Somali
Ethnic divisions:
Somali 85%, rest mainly Bantu; Arabs 30,000, Europeans 3,000, Asians 800
Religions:
almost entirely Sunni Muslim
Languages:
Somali (official); Arabic, Italian, English
Literacy:
24% (male 36%, female 14%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force:
2,200,000; very few are skilled laborers; pastoral nomad 70%, agriculture,
government, trading,