media landscape guide about Somalia - Internews

1. IntroductionSomalia has been without effective central government since 1991.Since then this semi-arid country of nomadic pastoralists has been torn apartby conflict. It has also suffered repeatedly from drought and famine.Two decades of chaos and conflict have wrecked the country’s education andhealthcare systems.There has been a massive outflow of refugees and economic migrants toneighbouring East African countries and the Arabian peninsula.The 10 million or so Somalis who have stayed behind face chronic economicand social problems and constant insecurity.Somalia has disintegrated into a patchwork of constantly shifting and oftenconflicting regional administrations.Yet the country has one of the most vibrant media landscapes in the Horn ofAfrica.It also has one of the cheapest and most widely available mobile telephonenetworks on the continent.Some parts of Somalia are more stable than others.Somaliland in the Northwest is the most peaceful and stable region. Itdeclared independence from the rest of the country in 1991, but has yet toreceive international recognition.Puntland, an autonomous state in Northeastern Somalia, is relatively peacefuland boasts a functioning administration.Unlike neighbouring Somaliland, with which it has a boundary dispute,Puntland does not aspire to break away completely from the rest of Somalia.But in January 2012, the situation in Southern and Central Somalia remainedvery fluid.A Transitional Federal Government, based in Mogadishu and backed byAfrican Union peacekeepers, was battling against the Al Shabaab Islamistmovement, which controlled most of the rural interior of this unstable region.For many years, the civil war mainly featured fighting between clan militias ledby regional warlords.3