Disputes - international:
"Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities to land-locked
Ethiopia and establish commercial ties with regional states;
"Puntland" and "Somaliland" "governments" seek support from
neighboring states in their secessionist aspirations and in
conflicts with each other; Ethiopia has only an administrative line
with the Oromo region of southern Somalia and maintains alliances
with local Somali clans opposed to the unrecognized Somali Interim
Government, which plans eventual relocation from Kenya to Mogadishu;
rival militia and clan fighting in southern Somalia periodically
spills over into Kenya; most of the remaining 23,000 Somali refuges
in Ethiopia are expected to be repatriated in 2005
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 375,000 (civil war since 1988, clan-based competition for
resources) (2004)
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
======================================================================
@South Africa
Introduction South Africa
Background:
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). The resulting Union of South
Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate
development of the races. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid
politically and ushered in black majority rule.
Geography South Africa
Location:
Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
Geographic coordinates:
29 00 S, 24 00 E