Training
The Latin alphabet was introduced as a written language
in 1972 and a comprehensive literacy campaign was carried
out. Since Siyad Barre was overthrown in 1991 with
subsequent internal chaos, the education system has
collapsed; the only schools that have worked are the Koran
schools. With the help of the UN, the EU and Western-based
aid organizations and foreign Islamic groups, elementary
schools were later opened in certain areas. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Somalia.
Formally, the 7-year primary school starts at the age of
six and is followed by a 4-year secondary school which is
divided into two stages. Official statistics are missing,
but according to UNICEF, only 1/3 of the children at the
current age of primary school attended 2006, and there are
indications that the situation has deteriorated since then.
The University of Mogadishu was closed in early 1991, but
in 2001 students were able to graduate again. The nursing
college that was reopened in the early 00s was subjected to
a bomb attack in 2009. In Puntland and Somaliland there are
now small universities.
US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the country in
May, where he met with both the President and the Prime
Minister. In recognition of the improved security situation
in the country, Kerry stated that the United States planned
to reopen an embassy in the country - without, however,
setting the year. The EU also declared in May that a number
of European countries were planning to reopen their
embassies.
In July, AMISOM launched a new offensive against
al-Shabaab, further reducing the movement's control in
Somalia.
From the beginning of 2015, IS launched a charm offensive
against al-Shabaab to get the movement to sheath the ties to
al-Qaeda and instead join IS. That led to internal
discussion, but in September al-Shabaab's leadership issued
an internal memo stating that the movement continued to be
linked to al-Qaeda and that any discussion of its
relationship with IS should cease. At the same time, the
movement arrested a number of members who had expressed
sympathy for IS. However, that stopped the discussions. In
the following months, a number of prominent al-Shabaab
leaders declared their support for IS, and it came to
internal military fighting in the movement.
As al-Shabaab lost ground, the movement increasingly
resorted to terror. In November, it attacked Hotel Sahafi in
Mogadishu and killed 15. In June 2016, it carried out two
attacks on hotels in Mogadishu, killing 13 and 15
respectively. The attacks indicated that both the movement
was under pressure and desperate, but also that the
authorities were not yet fully in control security
situation. Both AMISOM and the country's army also conducted
targeted attacks on the civilian population. In July 2015,
AMISOM killed 10 civilians in the city of Marka. All three
sides of the conflict are recruiting child soldiers.
In July, the President announced that no parliamentary
and presidential elections would be held in 2016, although
this was enshrined in the Somalia Peace Agreement. The
opposition objected to the resolution, declaring it was an
attempt to extend the president's term. In August, the
opposition tabled a distrust vote against President Mohamud.
Inspired by the EU's agreement with Turkey in 2016 to
evict refugees from Europe, Kenya declared in April 2016
that it would close the refugee camps in northern Kenya and
deport hundreds of thousands of refugees to Somalia.
The chaos of the war on the mainland means that the
Somali «authorities» have no control over the sea, where
Somali pirates - like the Israeli pirates in the
Mediterranean - freely border ships. Several countries have
sent warships to the area to keep the trade routes open. The
predatory fishing of European, South Korean and Japanese
vessels off the coast of Somalia already destroyed at the
beginning of the new millennium the basis for the Somali
fisheries, which instead relied on piracy to survive.
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed through 2016.
Both al-Shabaab, the Somali army and AMISOM were responsible
for the killings and war crimes. In addition, clashes
between clans that also cost many lives. At year-end, DKK
1.1 million was available. internally displaced due to the
fighting and 4.5 million needed humanitarian assistance. The
refugee situation was further aggravated in the first half
of 2016 when Kenya drew its inspiration from the EU, which,
in violation of the Refugee Convention, began to expel
refugees. Kenya, therefore, announced that it intended to
close the refugee camps for Somali refugees. Particularly
dysfunctional EU member countries such as Denmark and the
Netherlands began to push for the return of refugees to
Somalia, which they now considered to be a "safe country".
For the UN, the international humanitarian organizations and
the people of Somalia, security was difficult to spot.
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