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Somalia was taken over in 1969, by dictator Siyaad Barre, who exploited clan warfare within Somalia to retain power. When Barre’s government was toppled in 1991, Somalia could no longer be considered a single country but a collection of fighting ethnic groups and clans. With no central government, the enforcement of strict Muslim law varies from area to area. In late 2005, ongoing political turmoil and threats of armed conflict diminished prospects for long-term peace and stability and posed new dangers to the interim government.

Religion: Muslim 99.95% and Christian 0.05%. Islam is the official religion.

Ideological Influence: Islam

Head of State: President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed

Persecution: Fellowship among believers is dangerous, since persecution is strong in many parts of the country. A number of believers have been martyred, and others have been publicly named as targets for execution.

Missionary Opportunity: In 1991, there were about 500 Somali Catholics and several hundred evangelicals—mostly secret believers and nearly all in the South with few in Somaliland. Some have fled to nearby countries. Believers who remained in the country press on. Distribution of the Somali Bible is only possible in refugee camps and among Somalis outside the country.

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Assist News Service- Michael Ireland Mogadishu Somalia -- Somali Christian sources report that Ali Mustaf Maka'il, a 22-year-old college student and cloth merchant, who converted from Islam to Christianity eleven months ago, was shot and killed in the Manabolyo quarter of Mogadishu on September 7. According to a report from The Barnabas Fund, quoting a Christian source inside Somalia, the gunman was loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts (ICU), the Islamist organization that took power in Mogadishu in early June 2006 and now controls much of southern Somalia. The report states: "The gunman shot Ali in the back after he refused to join a crowd chanting Qur'an verses in honor of the lunar eclipse. (Solar and lunar eclipses are significant in Islam and are accompanied by special congregational prayers.) The ICU confiscated his body for 24 hours before delivering it to the grieving family." The Barnabas Fund says: "It seems that under the new Islamist rulers, who include hard-line jihadi elements, the tragic history of persecution and martyrdom for Somalia's tiny Christian community is set to continue and most likely to worsen." The group reports that in July 2006 there were unconfirmed reports that three Christians had been shot and killed by Islamists as they returned home from a prayer meeting. It adds: "In October 2005 an evangelist and house church leader, Osman Sheik Ahmed, was shot dead by Islamist radicals. Children of Christian Somali refugees in Kenya have been kidnapped by Muslim relatives and taken to Islamic institutions in Somalia for 'rehabilitation.' " The Barnabas Fund explains that the leader of the ICU, Hassan Dahir Aweys, promised to implement shari'a in all areas he controls. "According to shari'a, apostates (those who leave Islam for another religion), must be killed. ICU leaders have even threatened to kill as apostates Muslims who are lax in their prayers, claiming this is commanded by shari'a. Several Muslims have been publicly flogged for drug related offences since the ICU took control." The Barnabas Fund report states that more then 99.5 percent of Somalis are Muslims and regard Christianity as a foreign religion of their historic enemies in Ethiopia and of their former colonial masters the Italians and the British. It adds: "There is a long history of conflict between Muslim Somalis and Christian Ethiopians, so anti-Christian sentiment runs deep. Most Somalis take it for granted that a true Somali is a Muslim and converts to Christianity must be traitors. These prejudices, widely held by Muslim Somalis, seem to used to justify violence against Christians, both indigenous and expatriate. "The US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the recent Israeli campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon have fuelled and inflamed the inherent hostility to the West and to Christians."