Updates on the world's countries and borders
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| Map by Evan Centanni, from blank map by Ssolbergj. License: CC BY-SA |
Europe's continental union is probably most famous to outsiders for its euro currency and Schengen free-travel area. But it's actually much more than that: After all, the UK, whose exit from the EU in 2020 created a massive political storm, was never part of the Schengen Area or euro currency zone to begin with.
Several significant shifts in territorial control have affected Somalia since December 2024. Most recently, forces of Somalia's Al Qaeda affiliated rival government, Al Shabaab, began
sweeping across Middle Shabelle region on the heels of an African Union
troop reduction and mission downgrade, erasing most of the pro-federal
coalition's 2022 gains there. It's also captured key areas in Hiran and
Lower Shabelle regions, leading to fears that capital city Mogadishu
could be at risk.
Before that a small but deadly conflict between the federal government and Jubaland state left the southern region essentially outside the country's main coalition. Then, Puntland state carried out a remarkably effective offensive (known as "Operation Hilaac") gutting the core of so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) control in the northern mountains, likely uprooting the global network's central financial hub.
See all this and more on the latest update to PolGeoNow's concise, professional Somalia control map, which includes a summary and timeline of territorial changes and key events since our previous Somalia map report illustrating the situation in June 2024, with sources cited.
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(To see other maps in this series, view all Somalia updates.)
This is the second of a set of three Somalia reports published in June 2025 covering the past two years of Somalia's civil war, here mapping the situation as of late June 2024. See also our simultaneously-published reports illustrating the situation as of August 2023 and June 2025.
To access our full catalog of map reports covering control in Somalia and many other countries, sign up for our Control Map Subscription Service
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Base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com, with design and control by Evan Centanni. To use this map in your own materials, please contact us to arrange permission.
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This report covers the period in Somalia’s civil war from August 26, 2023 to June 28, 2024, before the events of early 2025, which would see a major Al Shabaab resurgence in central Somalia, as well as the retreat of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) during Puntland state’s “Operation Lightning’” (Hilaac) in the remote mountains of the north. In retrospect, the time from mid-2023 to mid-2024 now looks like a period of relative calm – particularly as the war between Somaliland and SSC-Khatumo settled into a state of frozen conflict - but there were still a number of important developments, which are summarized in the following paragraphs and covered in more detail in the event timeline further below (where additional sources are cited in the form of in-line links). In brief, this period included:
Mid-2023 saw a 15-year low point in control by Somalia's Al Qaeda-affiliated rival government Al Shabaab in its war against the coalition represented by the country's internationally-recognized federal government. On the very same day, history recorded a striking victory for the SSC-Khatumo movement, which overnight achieved its major objective of breaking away from self-proclaimed independent Somaliland, with the goal of joining federal Somalia as a state of its own.
During the same period, forces of the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) turned the tables on Al Shabaab fighters in the north's Almiskat (Cal Miskaad) Mountains, beginning to retake control from the vindictive rival group. In southern and central Somalia, the international troops of the African Union's ATMIS force completed the first planned phase of their partial withdrawal from the country. And two small insurrections sprung up, with dissidents declaring a "Hiran State" (also spelled "Hiiraan State") separate from Somalia's Hirshabelle, while "Ga'an Libah" (Gacan Libaax) militias carried out an insurgency in central Somaliland.
See all this and more on the latest update to PolGeoNow's concise, professional Somalia control map, which includes a timeline of territorial changes and key events since our previous Somalia map report illustrating the situation in January 2023, with sources cited.
This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Conflict Mapping Service.
Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our latest FREE SAMPLE Somalia map!
Exclusive map report includes:
Important Note: PolGeoNow does not take any position on whether Taiwan or Somaliland should be diplomatically recognized as independent countries, and does not take sides in the disputes they have with the governments of Somalia and China. During our visit to the Somaliland office in Taipei, we made clear to all parties that we were there strictly for neutral journalistic purposes. PolGeoNow has continued to report freely on developments both favorable and unfavorable to the self-declared Somaliland government in the time since our visit.
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| East Africa's self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland has an embassy-like representative office in the East Asian city of Taipei, semi-official capital of Taiwan. Somaliland and Taiwan are not accepted as independent countries by the United Nations (UN) - but neither are they controlled by the UN member countries that claim to have authority over them (Somalia and China respectively). |
All photos by PolGeoNow
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| Map modified by PolGeoNow from graphic by Wikimedia user Addicted04 (CC BY-SA) |
We reported on our 2022 visit soon afterwards with a thread on Twitter (now X)*, and today we're publishing this more complete account for future reference and historical interest.
*We're now also active on Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads
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