Somalia and Immigrants

Somalia, a coastal East African nation roughly the size and climate of Texas, was granted independence from British rule in 1960. Its two main languages are Somali and Arabic, and Islam is the predominant religion. Italy also controlled part of the country until World War II, and many Somalis today still speak Italian as a third language.

The Somali republic became a shining example of post-colonial democracy when, in 1967, the nation’s first elected president ceded power peacefully to his successor, a first for modern Africa.

In 1969, however, the military overthrew the republic, replacing it with a hard-line socialist regime that slowly eroded the foundations of civil society and the economy. The government collapsed in bloody civil war in 1991, worsening a refugee crisis that has impacted all of east Africa. A brief and abortive military intervention by the United States in 1993 was punctuated by the shocking spectacle chronicled in the recent movie Black Hawk Down.

Today Somalia remains lawless, a fractured land of warlords and abandoned potential. Up to one in 20 Somalis is now a refugee. Most now live in surrounding East African nations, many under harsh conditions in refugee camps. However, says Hussein Samatar, director of the African Development Center in St. Paul, Somalis have re-settled all over the world. Minneapolis has the largest Somali population in the United States, followed by Columbus, Ohio, and Seattle.