ool and Sanaag.
Beginning in 1993, a two-year UN humanitarian effort (primarily in
the south) was able to alleviate famine conditions, but when the UN
withdrew in 1995, having suffered significant casualties, order
still had not been restored. A two-year peace process, led by the
Government of Kenya under the auspices of the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD), concluded in October 2004 with the
election of Abdullahi YUSUF Ahmed as President of the Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and the formation of an interim
government, known as the Somalia Transitional Federal Institutions
(TFIs). The Somalia TFIs include a 275-member parliamentary body,
known as the Transitional Federal Assembly (TFA), a transitional
Prime Minister, Nur "Adde" Hassan HUSSEIN, and a 90-member cabinet.
The TFIs are based on the Transitional Federal Charter, which
outlines a five-year mandate leading to the establishment of a new
Somali constitution and a transition to a representative government
following national elections. While its institutions remain weak,
the TFG continues to reach out to Somali stakeholders and work with
international donors to help build the governance capacity of the
TFIs and work towards national elections in 2009. In June 2006, a
loose coalition of clerics, business leaders, and Islamic court
militias known as the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) defeated
powerful Mogadishu warlords and took control of the capital. The
Courts continued to expand militarily throughout much of southern
Somalia and threatened to overthrow the TFG in Baidoa. Ethiopian and
TFG forces, concerned over links between some CIC factions and the
al-Qaida East Africa network and the al-Qaida operatives responsible
for the bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998,
intervened in late December 2006, resulting in the collapse of the
CIC as an organization. However, the TFG continues to face violent
resistance from extremist elements, such as the al-Shabaab militia
previously affiliated with the now-defunct CIC.

Geography
Somalia

Location:

Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean,
east of Ethiopia

Geographic coordinates:

10 00 N, 49 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 637,657 sq km
land: 627,337 sq km
water: 10,320 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries:

total: 2,340 km
border countries: Djibouti 58