Somalia has been in a state of political, economic and social turmoil since the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991.
A number of Islamist groups have sprung up over the course of 17 years, grouping together under the banner of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). The union rivals the fractious interim government of Somalia, itself comprised of former warlords who quarrel constantly.
Considered a terror threat by Washington, the Islamists enjoy some support among Somalis. Diplomats warn that extremists, including representatives of Al Qaeda, are active in the country.
Fearing an expansion of Islamic fundamentalism in the horn of Africa, the Ethiopian army came to the rescue of the embattled Somali government last year, helping it oust an Islamist militia. In March, 2007, the African Union also sent in troops to help restore peace and order.
New president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed wants to form a national unity government to try and finally bring peace to his country, but his arrival in Mogadishu on Feb. 24 provoked further fighting that left dozens dead.
SOMALIA
Nearly 50 civilians have died in two days of fighting in Mogadishu, as well as in the south central town of Hudur. This comes just days after new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu to set up his new unity government.
SOMALIA
The world's shipping industry is having to grapple with an ancient threat of the seas: piracy. Somali pirates are becoming increasingly brazen in the Gulf of Aden, a vital shipping route. How is the shipping industry responding?
SOMALIA
Since the fall of President Siad Barre in January 1991, Somalia has been plagued by endless violence and chaos. Here is a recap of the main events that have punctuated the last 17 years of this war-stricken country.
REPORTERS
After 17 years of civil war, Somalia's capital Mogadishu is fast becoming a ghost town. FRANCE 24's cameras take us inside the city. (Report: F. Berruyer)
Related links
SOMALIA
Nearly 50 civilians have died in two days of fighting in Mogadishu, as well as in the south central town of Hudur. This comes just days after new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu to set up his new unity government.
SOMALIA
Armed fighters loyal to Mogadishu's Islamic party ambushed government troops in the city's southern Taleh district, sparking fierce exchanges of fire that killed at least 23 and wounded at least 90.
SOMALIA
Somalia's new prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, appointed Abdulkadir Ali Omar, a major Islamist militia group leader, to the post of interior minister to help bring about peace in the country after 18 years of violence.
SOMALIA
A Russian cruiser has captured three pirate boats off the coast of Somalia and have detained ten pirates who were found armed with grenade launchers, automatic rifles and landmines on board.
SOMALIA
African Union troops killed at least 18 civilians in Somalia when they responded with gunfire to a roadside bomb attack, local officials said Monday. A spokesman for the AU forces denied the charges.
SOMALIA
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, has been elected Somalia's new president during a parliamentary vote in neighbouring Djibouti. Ahmed now faces the formidable task of putting together a unity government to rebuild a failed state.
HORN OF AFRICA
The Ethiopian government has ruled out sending troops back to Somalia despite a hardline Islamist group's takeover of Baidoa, the seat of the Somali parliament and the last town vacated by Ethiopian forces earlier this month.
SOMALIA
Somali Islamists said they had taken control of Baidoa, the seat of the country's parliament, after Ethiopian troops pulled out at the weekend. Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the spokesman of the Shebab, said: "The town is completely in our hands.
SOMALIA
Ethiopian soldiers, who moved into Somalia in 2006 to oppose the rise of Islamist militias, have pulled out of the the war-torn country's capital. A Somali government spokesman said they had "fully withdrawn".
SOMALIA
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf stepped down on Monday, blaming the international community for failing to support the country's fragile interim government. His resignation follows that of PM Mohamed Mohamud Guled a week earlier.
SOMALIA
A Chinese naval force, two destroyers and one supply ship departed from south China's Hainan Island to patrol the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, in an effort to stave off the recent spate of pirate attacks against merchant vessels.
SOMALIA
President Abdullahi Yusuf was expected to resign Saturday, his spokesman said Wednesday, the same day Mohamed Mohamud Guled, a lawmaker controversially named Somali prime minister last week, announced his resignation.
SOMALIA
The UN Security Council voted a resolution authorising countries fighting piracy off the Somali coast to carry out operations on Somalia's territory and in its airspace, subject to approval by its government.
SOMALIA - POLITICS
As a fragile government battles Islamist rebels poised on the outskirts of the capitol, Mogadishu, the president of largely ungoverned Somalia announced he was sacking the prime minister in a row over the composition of a new cabinet.
HORN OF AFRICA
Warships from several EU countries will start converging on the Gulf of Aden on Monday. The navy mission aims to protect maritime traffic from pirates in a region where more than 100 ships have been attacked so far this year.
SOMALIA
In the war against piracy off the coast of Somalia, private security firms are offering military experience and weaponry to ship owners, most of whom are willing to pay thousands of dollars a day for their own private army.
UN - PIRACY
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging states to commit naval and air assets to the fight against piracy off Somalia. "It states very clearly that you can use force against the pirates," said France's UN ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert.
SOMALIA - AFRICAN UNION
African Union forces engaged in heavy fighting with Somali insurgents in Mogadishu late Tuesday, leaving at least seven civilians dead. The AU deployed troops there in March 2007, to aid the country torn by civil war.
SOMALIA - ITALY
Two Italian aid workers held hostage in Somalia since May have been released by their kidnappers. A Somali involved in the negotiations said a $700,000 ransom was paid, a claim denied by Italian authorities.
UN - SOMALIA
The UN Security Council's 15 members adopted Resolution 1816 on Monday, allowing international warships to enter Somalia's territorial waters to combat piracy at sea. The policy has the consent of the Somali government.
SOMALIA
Three aid workers - two Italians and a Somali - were kidnapped in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, south of Mogadishu. The three were working for an Italian non-governmental organisation called Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS).
SOMALIA
The workers, a Briton and a Kenyan, were abducted by armed men Tuesday in southern Somalia, the latest in a string of attacks targeting humanitarian operations in the restive country.
SOMALIA
The US military targeted suspected al Qaeda "terrorists" in a strike launched early on Monday in Dobley, Somalia, a senior US military official said.
SOMALIA - UNITED NATIONS
Two and a half million Somalis are at risk of starvation because of the twin effect of civil war and drought, the UN has warned. The country has been caught in endless fighting since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in the early 1990s.
SOMALIA
Clashes between Islamist insurgents and Somali, Ethiopian, and African Union forces resulted in at least 39 deaths. Of these, 13 were civilians.
