The Somali Republic (formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic), is located on the Horn of Africa in East Africa. It is bordered by the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Kenya to the south-west, Ethiopia to the west and Djibouti to the north-west.

The Somali state currently exists solely in a de jure capacity; it has no recognised central government authority nor any other feature associated with an established independent state. De facto authority resides in the hands of the governments for the unrecognised entities of Somaliland and Puntland, and the United Nations-recognised, interim Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which until recently controlled only Baidoa. Violence has plagued Somalia since warlords ousted former Supreme President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.