SOMALIA Jan. 1, 2012: Est. population, 9,832,000; Members, fewer than 100; Africa Southeast Area; Kenya Nairobi Mission.
Somaliawasformed1July1960byamergerofBritishSomalilandandItalianSomaliland. Itistheeasternmostcountry ontheAfricancontinentandisborderedbytheGulfofAdenandIndianOcean,Ethiopia,Djibouti,andKenya. Themajority
Deseret News 2013 Qiurch News Almanac 563
ofthepopulationareSunniMuslim. TheofficiallanguageisSomali,whileArabic,Italian,andEnglisharealsospoken. In1983,membersofanagriculturaldevelopmentprojectfromUtahStateUniversitybeganworkinSomalia. Manyof thoseworkingontheprojectweremembersoftheChurch. Toservethisgroup,theMogadishuBranchwasformedunder
thedirectionoftheInternationalMission. Whentheprojectconcluded,thebranchwasdissolved.
Michel Guillas, a French doctor, had begun meeting with missionaries in Geneva. Switzerland, in 1983. That same year he movedtoSomalia. HesoonmetagroupofLatter-daySaintswhoweremeetinginaprivatehome. Guillaswasbaptizedin the IndianOcean on 15 December 1984,the first knownconvertbaptizedin Somalia.
DroughtandborderdisputesinSomaliacontinuedthroughthe1980sandearly1990s. In1992,theChurchsentover1 millionpoundsofreliefsuppliestoSomaliaandotherneighboringcountries. TheChurchalsofundedseveralwater reclamation projects.
Alsoin1992,U.S.MarinesweresenttoSomaliaaspartofaUnitedNationspeacekeepingforce. Latter-daySaintswithin thecontingentrequestedpermissionfromtheAfricaAreaPresidencytoholdChurchmeetings. Inresponse,theKenya Nairobi Mission sentmanuals and hymn books. As of2004, there was noofficial Church group inthecountry.