The nation that doesn't exist

Child soldier in Mogadishu

The nation that no longer exists is Somalia, although no one in the West says it. The last stable Somali government fell in 1991, with the end of the dictatorship of Siad Barre. Since then, the Somalia born after the Second World War with the end of Italian and British colonialism ceased to exist. The former British Somalia in fact has been detached from the rest of the nation since 18 years, declaring an independent state under the name of Somaliland.

Its independence was not recognized by any foreign country, but in fact the region is independent and it's one of the few areas of Somalia not affected by recent wars, although not exactly a free and democratic country. After the disastrous UN intervention between 1992 and 1995, when the international troops tried in vain to restore order in Somalia and the Americans entered the conflict with Islamic fighters, the fragmentation of the African nation has continued to deteriorate.
In 1998, Puntland, the north east of the Horn of Africa and of former Italian Somalia, became a de- facto independent territory too. Somaliland and Puntland, even if the territories are more or less stable, cannot sustain themselves economically and have become basis of piracy, especially the second. Also because in the years of war and in the absence of a central state fleets of foreign fishing vessels have systematically plundered the coasts of Somalia, already widely used for the illegal disposal of european toxic and radioactive waste. With the fishing industry in ruin Puntland people live mostly on piracy. Somaliland and Puntland also have a territorial dispute in progress, even if the fighting has been sporadic.
Southern Somalia, most of the former Italian Somalia, where there is the capital Mogadishu, is caught since two decades in a very serious humanitarian crisis and ongoing fighting between warlords and Islamic militants. Since 2002 Jubaland the southern tip of Somalia, has declared de facto independence too. In 2006, an attempt was made to create a central government that has practically caused a war between the Alliance for Peace and the Islamic Courts, which managed to conquer Mogadishu and capture the entire southern part of former Italian Somalia.
Between the end of 2006 and 2007 Ethiopia, backed by the bombing of the United States, intervened in the conflict, freeing Mogadishu from Islamic courts. In March 2007 the African Union and the UN sent troops to keep peace in Mogadishu, but in the meantime the humanitarian crisis worsens, and at least 300,000 people have fled to Kenya, while the attacks of Islamic groups against the government coalition and Ethiopian troops increased. The defeated Islamic Courts founded the guerrilla movement Al-Shabaab, and after the final withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in early 2009 have in practice again a strong presence in almost all the southern part of the country, including Mogadishu, where the attacks and clashes are common. The transitional government has repeatedly called for international assistance to fight the Islamist guerrillas. Meanwhile in Somalia, or what's left of it, 4 million people, one third of the population, barely survives only with humanitarian aid.
Just another success story of the western world african policy.