Today,
the country is on the path to recovery, and although terrorism is still
a threat to the fragile peace, Al Shabab can no longer hold the country
hostage as it once did
By Bashir Goth, Special to Gulf News
Published: 16:51 July 6, 2016
As Somalia celebrates its 56th Independence anniversary this month, it
may take a moment of reflection to understand how the country has
descended from the dream of creating a Greater Somalia that unites all
the territories of all Somali people spread across four countries in the
Horn of Africa, to picking up the pieces of the disintegrated rump
state.
Born on July 1, 1960, from the unification between the
British-protected north and the Italian-ruled south, Somalia adopted a
parliamentary democracy and became the first African nation in which its
first president handed over the reins of power peacefully to his
successor after being defeated in a publicly broadcast parliamentary
vote in 1967.