media landscape guide about Somalia - Internews

But even before then, the threat of violence and kidnap had drasticallyrestricted international humanitarian operations inside the Al Shabaabcontrolledregion.The chaos and conflict within Somalia has led to repeated attempts at foreignintervention.Somalis have for centuries occupied a territory significantly larger than themodern state of Somalia.There are large ethnic Somali populations in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. Allthese countries are wary of losing territories that are populated by ethnicSomalis to a “Greater Somalia.”Somalia fought a bitter but inconclusive war with Ethiopia from 1977 to 1978for possession of Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region, which is mostly inhabitedby ethnic Somalis.The two countries came to blows again more recently when Ethiopian forcesoccupied Mogadishu from 2006 to 2009.Since their withdrawal Addis Ababa has actively supported militia groupsopposed to Al Shabaab and has frequently staged cross-border militaryoperations.Diplomats and local residents say that army recruits in Puntland andSomaliland are regularly sent to Ethiopia for military trainingEritrea, which has poor relations with Ethiopia, has repeatedly has beenaccused by the United States and Somalia’s immediate neighbours ofsupplying arms and ammunition to Al Shabaab.The government in Asmara has persistently denied these charges.The United States is concerned by Al Shabaab’s links to Al Qaeda and globalterrorism. The United States has a large military base in Djibouti and hasfrequently carried out drone attacks in South Central Somalia.All the world’s maritime powers are meanwhile alarmed by the increasingactivity of Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.A multi-national naval force patrols the pirate-infested waters off the Somalicoast to deter attacks on commercial shipping.Somalia is ethnically and culturally homogenous. It is not affected by thetribal, religious and linguistic divisions that plague many African countries.Almost the entire the population belongs to the Somali ethnic group.8