Gawaan | |
|---|---|
Populated place | |
  Gawaan Location in Somalia. | |
| Coordinates: 5°18′48″N48°17′41″E / 5.31333°N 48.29472°E | |
| Country |  |
| Region | Mudug |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Gawaan (Somali : Gawaan Dheere) is a populated place in the north-central Mudug region of Somalia.
The town is built upon high ground. From this elevation, it is possible to see the city of Hobyo and the Somali Sea, which lies a further 30 km to the east.
Gawaan's population mostly belongs to the Somali ethnic group, with the Salebaan sub-clan of the Habar Gidir Hawiye especially well represented.
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia is a sovereign country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains, and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the President as Commander in Chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is a self-declared country, internationally considered to be part of Somalia. The government of the de facto state of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the former British Somaliland protectorate, which, in the form of the briefly independent State of Somaliland, united as scheduled on 1 July 1960 with the Trust Territory of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic.
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Puntland, officially the Puntland State of Somalia, is a Federal Member State in northeastern Somalia. Centred in the town of Garoowe in the Nugal province, its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state within Somalia in 1998.
Jaalle Mohamed Siad Barre was a Somali politician who served as the President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. Barre, a major general of the gendarmerie, became President of Somalia after the 1969 coup d'état that overthrew the Somali Republic following the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke. The Supreme Revolutionary Council military junta under Barre reconstituted Somalia as a one-party Marxist–Leninist communist state, renaming the country the Somali Democratic Republic and adopting scientific socialism, with support from the Soviet Union. Barre's early rule was characterised by attempts at widespread modernization, nationalization of banks and industry, promotion of cooperative farms, a new writing system for the Somali language, and anti-tribalism. The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party became Somalia's vanguard party in 1976, and Barre started the Ogaden War against Ethiopia on a platform of Somali nationalism and pan-Somalism.Barre's popularity was highest during the seven months between September 1977 and March 1978 when Barre captured virtually the entirety of the Somali region. It declined from the late-1970s following Somalia's defeat in the Ogaden War, triggering the Somali Rebellion and severing ties with the Soviet Union. Opposition grew in the 1980s due to his increasingly dictatorial rule, growth of tribal politics, abuses of the National Security Service including the Isaaq genocide, and the sharp decline of Somalia's economy. In 1991, Barre's government collapsed as the Somali Rebellion successfully ejected him from power, leading to the Somali Civil War, and forcing him into exile where he died in Nigeria in 1995.
Somali is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in Greater Somalia and the Somali diaspora. Somali is an official language of Somalia and Somaliland, a national language in Djibouti, and a working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia and also in North Eastern Kenya. It is used as an adoptive language by a few neighboring ethnic minority groups and individuals. The Somali language is written officially with the Latin alphabet.
The Somali Region, officially known as the Somali Regional State/Ogaden, is the second largest and easternmost of the ten regions (Kililoj) of Ethiopia. The state borders the Ethiopian states of Afar and Oromia and the chartered city Dire Dawa to the west, as well as Djibouti to the north; Somalia to the north, northeast and east; and Kenya to the southwest.
Somalis are an East Cushitic ethnic group belonging to the Cushitic peoples native to Greater Somalia who share a common Somali ancestry, culture and history. Somali language is the shared mother tongue of the ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, and are predominately Sunni Muslim which is their historical religion. They form one of the largest ethnic groups in the African continent, as well as covering the most expansive landmass by a single ethnic group in Africa.
The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali war, was a Somali military offensive between July 1977 and March 1978 over the disputed Ethiopian region of Ogaden, which began with the Somali invasion of Ethiopia. The Soviet Union disapproved of the invasion and ceased its support of Somalia, instead starting to support Ethiopia. Ethiopia was saved from a major defeat and a permanent loss of territory through a massive airlift of military supplies worth $1 billion, the arrival of between 12,000–24,000 Cuban troops sent by Fidel Castro to win a second African victory, and 1,500 Soviet advisors, led by General Vasily Petrov. On 23 January 1978, Cuban armored brigades inflicted the worst losses the Somali forces had ever taken in a single action since the start of the war. The Ethiopians and Cubans prevailed at Harar, Dire Dawa and Jijiga, and began to push the Somalis systematically out of the Ogaden. By 23 March 1978, the Ethiopians and Cubans had recaptured more than two-thirds of the Ogaden, marking the official end of the war.
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. By 1988–1990, the Somali Armed Forces began engaging various armed rebel groups, including the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. The clan-based armed opposition groups overthrew the Barre government in 1991.
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known as al-Shabaab, is a terrorist, jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is the United States military operation to combat militant Islamism and piracy in the Horn of Africa. It is one component of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which includes eight African states stretching from the far northeast of the continent to the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea in the west. The other OEF mission in Africa is known as Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara (OEF-TS), which, until the creation of the new United States Africa Command, was run from the United States European Command.
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Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Somalia in the south, Ethiopia in the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the east. Across the Gulf of Aden is Yemen. The country has a total area of 23,200 km2 (8,958 sq mi). The Republic of Djibouti is predominantly inhabited by two ethnic groups, the Somali and the Afar people, with the former comprising the majority of the population.
The 2009–present phase of the Somali Civil War is concentrated in southern and central Somalia and portions of north eastern Kenya. It began in early February 2009 with the conflict between the forces of the Federal Government of Somalia, assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops, and various militant groups and factions. The violence has displaced thousands of people in the southern part of the country. The conflict has also seen fighting between the Sufi Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a and Al-Shabaab.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Somalia on 16 March 2020 when the first case was confirmed in Mogadishu. The Somali Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire announced that the government has set aside five million dollars to deal with the disease, The Somali Medical Association is concerned that the death toll in the country will be huge and that Somalia will not be able to recover from the economic effects due to poor working relations between central government and federal states which leads to lack of control by central government, as well and the lack of healthcare infrastructure. It has also been speculated that President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed may use the pandemic as an excuse to postpone elections. There have also been concerns over freedom of the press following arrests and intimidation of journalist who have been covering the pandemic in Somalia.
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