By Eugene G. From Veritas , Vol. For the U. Army, Somalia provided several unique challenges. It was the first experience with Military Operations Other Than War, and the first time American troops had been deployed to a country without a functioning central government since the end of the war in Vietnam.
To understand the country, the first step is to identify Somalia. Proximity to the equator and the absence of mountains explains why it is hot and arid year-round with the average temperature ranging between 85 and degrees Fahrenheit. With an agragrian-based economy that produces agricultural and livestock products for internal sustainment and export, the climate is important. Water availability is critical to the economy.
These rivers are the major sources of water for agricultural crop production in the south. The agrarian livestock herders in the rest of the country rely on wells for water. Indiscriminate and unregulated dumping of toxic waste, improper human waste disposal, and constant blowing dust have contaminated most ground-water sources. To survive, the Somalis have resorted to drinking this water and, consequently, are plagued with Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever and Hepatitis E, all infectious water-borne diseases.
Major countrywide droughts occur every two to five years and threaten human and animal survival. Unfortunately, regional warlords controlled the water and other scarce resources, thereby maintaining power. The vast majority of people have descended from the Eastern Hamitic people of the Samaal ethnic group. Somalis have a common race, religion, language, dress, and culture, and share historical traditions.
Somalis will not voluntarily separate themselves from family, lineage, or clan affiliation, so there is little hope for a unified country. Western European colonial rule from the s through contributed to Somali disunity. On 1 July , Italy granted independence and the Somali Republic was formed.
