Somalia is a federal republic consisting of six federal states, including

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

, as well as the Banadir Regional Administration. Somalia is further subdivided into Eighteen

administrative regions Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

(''gobollada'', singular ''gobol''), which are in turn subdivided into districts.

History

Puntland is an autonomous state in the northeast of Somalia that was formed in 1998. Galmudug is a federal state in central Somalia.

Jubaland Jubaland ( so, Jubbaland, ar, , it, Oltregiuba), the Juba Valley ( so, Dooxada Jubba) or Azania ( so, Asaaniya, ar, ), is a Federal Member State in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies east of the Jubba River, stretching from Gedo t ...

is a federal state in the south of Somalia. In November 2014, the

South West State of Somalia The South-West State of Somalia ( so, Goboleedka Koonfur Galbeed ee Soomaaliya, Maay Maay: ''Koofur Orsi''), is a Federal Member State in southwestern Somalia. It was founded by Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, leader of the Somalia RRA on 1 Ap ...

was established as a Somali federal state. In October 2016, a formation conference was launched in order to form the Hirshabelle State as a Somali federal state. The Federal Parliament is tasked with selecting the ultimate number and boundaries of the autonomous regional states (officially, ''Federal Member States'') within the Federal Republic of Somalia. To this end, the legislature in December 2014 passed a law establishing the Boundary and Federalization Commission. The body is mandated with determining the boundaries of the country's constituent Federal Member States, as well as arbitrating between these regional states on their respective jurisdiction.

Federal member states

As of 2016, Somalia is officially divided into 6 federal member states, including the claimed but uncontrolled

:http://somalireview.com/2016/10/somalias-regional-states-submit-upper-house-nominations/ * Galmudug Area 78k.km² * Hirshabelle 120k.km² *

110k.km² * Puntland212k.km² * South West98k.km² *

198k.km²

Regions

President of Somalia The president of Somalia ( so, Madaxaweynaha Soomaaliya) is the head of state of Somalia. The president is also commander-in-chief of the Somali Armed Forces. The president represents the Federal Government of Somalia, Federal Republic of Somal ...

Mohamed Siad Barre established five of these regions in 1974–75 for political reasons: Middle Juba, Lower Juba, Gedo,

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, and Bakool; Banaadir shrank to Mogadishu city only at the same time. Below are the regions of Somalia, along with their capitals shown in brackets: * Bakool ( Hudur) * Banadir ( Mogadisho) * Bari ( Bosaso) *

( Baidoa) * Galgaduud ( Dhusamareb) * Gedo ( Garbahaarreey) * Hiiraan ( Beledweyn) * Lower Juba ( Kismayo) * Lower Shabelle ( Merca) – established in 1984 * Middle Juba (

Bu'ale Bu'ale ( so, Bu'aale, Maay: ''Bu'aaly'') is a town in the Middle Juba region of Somalia. It is the capital of the Bu'aale District as well as the de jure capital of the Jubaland State region, situated in the southern Jubba River valley. Bu'ale is ...

) * Middle Shebelle ( Jowhar) * Mudug ( Galkayo) * Nugal ( Garowe)

Somaliland

functions as a ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

'' state that is located in the north of Somalia, adjacent to the Federal Republic of Somalia, which claims Somaliland as Federal Government of Somalia. Somaliland does not have full diplomatic relations with any other country. According to Somalia, Somaliland comprises the northwestern portion of its territory and around 13.6% of its total claimed territory. Most countries worldwide recognize Somaliland as a breakaway or autonomous region of Somalia. In reality, Somalia has no effective control over Somaliland.

References

{{States of Somalia /ref> Subdivisions of Somalia Somalia, States and regions Somalia geography-related lists

History

Federal member states

Regions

Somaliland

See also

References