SOS

Exchange rates:

Somali shillings (SOS) per US dollar - NA (2007), 1,438.3 (2006) official rate; the unofficial black market rate was about 23,000 shillings per dollar as of February 2007 note: the Republic of Somaliland, a self-declared independent country not recognized by any foreign government, issues its own currency, the Somaliland shilling

Communications
Somalia

Telephones - main lines in use:

100,000 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

600,000 (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: the public telecommunications system was almost completely destroyed or dismantled during the civil war; private wireless companies offer service in most major cities and charge the lowest international rates on the continent domestic: local cellular telephone systems have been established in Mogadishu and in several other population centers international: country code - 252; international connections are available from Mogadishu by satellite (2001)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 0, FM 11 (also 1 station each in Puntland and Somaliland), shortwave 1 (in Mogadishu) (2001)

Radios:

470,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

4 (2 in Mogadishu and 2 in Hargeisa) (2001)

Televisions:

135,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.so

Internet hosts:

1 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

3 (one each in Boosaaso, Hargeisa, and Mogadishu) (2000)

Internet users:

98,000 (2007)

Transportation
Somalia

Airports:

67 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 7 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 60 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to 1,523 m: 29 under 914 m: 7 (2007)

Roadways:

total: 22,100 km paved: 2,608 km unpaved: 19,492 km (2000)

Merchant marine:

total: 1 by type: cargo 1 foreign-owned: 1 (UAE 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Berbera, Kismaayo

Transportation - note:

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial and offshore waters in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are high risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships; numerous vessels, including commercial shipping and pleasure craft, have been attacked and hijacked both at anchor and while underway; crew, passengers, and cargo are held for ransom

Military
Somalia

Military branches:

no national-level armed forces (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 2,181,050 females age 16-49: 2,125,558 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,274,783 females age 16-49: 1,317,991 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 95,446 female: 95,339 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.9% of GDP (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues
Somalia

Disputes - international:

Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera to landlocked Ethiopia and have established commercial ties with other regional states; "Puntland" and "Somaliland" "governments" seek international support in their secessionist aspirations and overlapping border claims; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading south across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

IDPs: 1.1 million (civil war since 1988, clan-based competition for resources) (2007)

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

@South Africa

Introduction
South Africa

Background:

Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the East, founding the city of Cape Town. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902); however, the British and the Afrikaners, as the Boers became known, ruled together under the Union of South Africa. In 1948, the National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The first multi-racial elections in 1994 brought an end to apartheid and ushered in black majority rule.

Geography
South Africa

Location:

Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa

Geographic coordinates: