User:Avelez2/Somalia, Energy, and Security

Introduction
Geographically Somalia is located in eastern Africa near Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya. It also borders the Gulf of Aden as well as the Indian Ocean. In comparison to a state in The United States of America, Somalia is around the same size of Texas, only 637,657 sq km. The coastline is 3,025 km which makes Somalia a prime location for trade into that part of the world. Somalia is likely to have oil and natural gas reserves, but their global energy output is less significant than the amount of energy sources from which they import from various regions around the African and Asian subcontinents.

The Government of Somalia
Somalia gained its independence on the 1st of July in 1960 from British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. However, this independence came at a price and Somalia lacks a structured government. They have no national governing system but mix English and Italian common law with an emphasis on Islamic sharia.

The government of Somalia is broken into three branches of government. There is an executive branch with a transitional president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and the head of the government is Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. The legislative branch is called the unicameral National Assembly which has 550 seats, 475 which are appointed and the remaining 75 seats are reserved for business persons. The judicial branch of the government is based off of local conflict resolution.

The Economy of Somalia
The lack of natural resources has forced Somalia to depend on assistance from other countries. The main source of Somalia's economy is agricultural. The livestock exports used to bring in much of the economic wealth of the country, but because of bans,animal health, and safety regulations by Arabian Peninsula states the livestock exporting has been dramatically less. Drought has also had a poor influence on the agriculture of the country.

Although minerals like uranium and deposits of petroleum and natural gas have been found throughout the nation of Somalia they have not been used commercially for profit. Foreign nations have invested time and money into the uranium and petroleum deposits but efforts have halted because of the instability of the government and the lack of security.

The lack of stability and a central government has also made Somalia a prime location for counterfeiting and illegal happenings on the black market. The lack of security, transportation, and cellular phone service has worked against the travel profits of Somalia.

Somalia and Energy
Somalia is not a large producer or consumer of energy. It was the lack of natural resources that led Italy and Britain away from colonization in Somalia. There are no known oil reserves but there is a modest natural gas reserve of 200 billion cubic feet (World Factbook 2010) However many companies avoid working with Somalia because of its current government situation and lack of structure.

In comparison to states of similar population, size, and comparison, Somalia uses way less energy sources then the other countries.

Somalia has had to rely on other sources for energy. Currently Somalia has relied primarily on domestic wood and charcoal as well as imported petroleum. There have been attempts made to utilize the Jubba River and the Baardheere Dam for energy purposes, but little has come from those attempts. Many plants located throughout the country have relied on imported petroleum. Throughout Somalia, eighty different oil-fired thermal and diesel power plants had to depend solely on this imported petroleum. Several international oil companies searched for natural gas deposits and oil in Somalia and found potential but efforts fell through after the civil war in Somalia. This reliance on foreign help to meet the petroleum needs of the country has left Somalia in a difficult position. 500 million dollars (US) was to be invested towards a refinery project that would have resulted in a new oil refinery in Mogadishu that would have a refining capacity of 200,000 barrels a day. However, when relying heavily on foreign support, the refinery project had not materialized as of 1992 because of events in Romania and Somalia.

Innovations in wind energy have produced four wind turbines that were embedded in the Mogadishu electrical grid. In 1988 these turbines produced 699,420 Kilowatt hours of energy.

Somalia's Impact on Global Energy
Although Somalia has little impact on global energy, the nation of Somalia has a large impact on the security of trade between different nations. The lack of government control over customs and the population of Somalia has turned into a safe place for terrorists and others attempting to gain access to the oil trade in that part of the world.

The largest impact on global trade comes from the miles of coast that pirates have access to. Twenty percent of all of the global trade occurs on the coast of Somalia. Much of the oil in the Middle East leaves through the Gulf of Aden. Recently Piracy has increased dramatically and many vessels were hijacked in which the crews were taken hostage. In fact, more then half of the pirate attacks in the world occur in Somalia.

In order to protect this area of trade, twenty five countries have began patrolling the coasts of Somalia. Some of these countries helping to protect the trade activity are Greece, Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Japan. The Naval Force of Somalia is also actively patrolling the coastline. Much money, service, and measures have been taken to rid Somalia of its Piracy.

Defense in Somalia
As the government began to collapse in Somalia and anarchy spread throughout the country, different factions headed by different military leaders began to take control of Somalia. The United States of America got involved because this created lots of death and chaos in the country. Since then, different factions have gone to war with each other to gain control over territory in Somali.

The militia in Somalia is the Somali National Army or the SNA has disbanded as of the early nineties. The military equipment used was a mixture of old weapons and inadequate tools of defense. The militia mainly focused on internal security and affairs with Ethiopia.

The air force in Somalia, the Somali Air force or the Somali Aeronautical Corps, has also suffered from inadequate equipment and maintenance to the aircraft. Currently the air force is not actively protecting Somalia.

It is the lack of strong military security that has also made Somalia accessible to terrorists and piracy. Therefore, there is little reason to believe that Somalia will change in coming decades. Instead we are more likely to see an increase in famine, poverty, and military confrontations that lie ahead within the government.

Reference List
(1) "CIA - The World Factbook." Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(2) "CIA - The World Factbook." Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(3) "Somalia (01/10)." U.S. Department of State. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(4) "Somalia Energy - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System." Photius Coutsoukis. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(5) "Somalia - Energy." Country Studies. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(6) "Somalia - Energy." Country Studies. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. 

(7) "Energy and Power - Somalia." Encyclopedia of the Nations - Information about Countries of the World, United Nations, and World Leaders. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(8) "EIA - International Energy Data and Analysis for Somalia." Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(9) "Somalia Military Guide." Blog. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .

(10) "NationMaster - Somali Military Statistics." NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons. Web. 10 Apr. 2010. .