# Somalia > [!info] Gateway page > Orientation on Somalia is here. The war is at [[Somali Civil War]], the insurgency at [[Al-Shabaab]] and the breakaway north at [[Somaliland]]. **Somalia** occupies the tip of the Horn of Africa, facing Yemen across the Gulf of Aden. Its central government collapsed in January 1991 and no government since has controlled the whole country. **Three things are true of it at once in late 2026.** *It is fighting an insurgency.* [[Al-Shabaab]], al-Qaeda's affiliate in East Africa, holds much of the rural south and has been pressing toward Mogadishu since early 2025. The African Union force that has propped up the government since 2007 is winding down: its current mandate ends on December 31, 2026, the United States has refused to support the UN office that supplies it beyond a one-year drawdown, and Uganda has begun pulling troops out. *Its government's legal mandate is in dispute.* Parliament voted in March 2026 to extend its own term and the president's. On November 5, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's term had expired the previous May and ordered elections within 90 days. He had dismissed the chief justice the day before; the attorney general's office declared the ruling to have "no legal effect." Two of the federal states, Puntland and Jubaland, suspended relations with Mogadishu in 2024. *It is a front in someone else's quarrel.* The [[United Arab Emirates]] built ports and trained forces in the breakaway region of [[Somaliland]] and in Puntland. After [[Israel]] recognized Somaliland in December 2025, with what Somalis widely believe was Emirati help, Mogadishu cancelled every agreement it had with the Emirates on January 12, 2026 and signed a military cooperation agreement with [[Saudi Arabia]] four weeks later. [[Turkey]], [[Egypt]] and [[Qatar]] back Mogadishu as well. See [[Saudi-Emirati Rivalry]]. ## The United States American involvement has run in two registers that rarely meet. **Abroad, it is an air war.** U.S. forces first went in under [[George H.W. Bush]] in December 1992 to protect famine relief. Eighteen American soldiers died in the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3–4, 1993, the "Black Hawk Down" episode, and [[Bill Clinton]] withdrew. Since the 2000s the United States has returned by air: a November 2026 review of Africa Command's public register counted 88 strikes in Somalia during the year, against both Al-Shabaab and the local [[Islamic State]] branch. The legal basis is the 2001 [[AUMF]] (see [[Drone Warfare and Targeted Killing]]). **At home, it is an immigration fight.** Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the country, and [[Ilhan Omar]], born in Mogadishu, represents Minneapolis in Congress. In December 2025 [[Donald Trump]] called Somali immigrants "garbage" and said he did not want them in the country. His administration sent more than 2,000 federal agents to Minnesota (see [[Operation Metro Surge]]) and on January 13, 2026 announced the end of [[Temporary Protected Status]] for Somalis, effective March 17. The termination notice argued that conditions had improved and that returnees could live in safer areas such as Somaliland, while the State Department's own advisory told Americans not to travel to Somalia at all. ## Why it's on the map In American politics Somalia works mostly as a symbol: of state failure, and of immigrants the president says he does not want. The war itself, the 88 strikes and the decision to wind down support for the African Union mission get far less attention. Libertarian writers have also looked to its stateless years as a model; one such scheme is described in [[Crack-Up Capitalism]]. ## Where to go from here | Destination | What's there | |---|---| | [[Somali Civil War]] | The war from 1991 to the present, with a timeline | | [[Al-Shabaab]] | The insurgency | | [[Somaliland]] | The breakaway north, Berbera port and Israel's recognition | | [[Saudi-Emirati Rivalry]] | The Gulf contest playing out on Somali soil | | [[Operation Metro Surge]] | The 2025–2026 immigration operation in Minnesota | | [[Ilhan Omar]] | The Somali-American congresswoman and the attacks on her | ## See also [[Ethiopia]] · [[Eritrea]] · [[Yemen]] · [[African Union]] · [[Al-Qaeda]] · [[Africa]] · [[Countries Hub]]