From: dfo@tko.vtt.fi (Foxvog Douglas)
Subject: Re: Somalia an Arab country??? no! [was: It's Blood for Oill, again.]
Organization: VTT
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 09:15:37 GMT

In article <Bz4AL4.G81@apollo.hp.com> goykhman_a@apollo.hp.com (Alex Goykhman) writes:
>In article <1992Dec10.063330.4065@ousrvr.oulu.fi> dfo@tko.vtt.fi (Foxvog Douglas) writes:
>>In article <ByyuBE.2G2@apollo.hp.com> goykhman_a@apollo.hp.com (Alex Goykhman) writes:
>>>    Somalia is an Arab country. a full-fledged member of the Arab League, 
>>
>>According to the CIA World Fact Book, about 0.5% of the population of
>>Somalia is Arab (30,000 out of 6.x million).  Under Siad Barre the
>>official language was Somali, which the vast majority of the people 
>>speak.  Arabic, English and Italian are also spoken there.  If you have
>>seen any photos of the feeding centers or the population of Mogadishu
>>you would have been unable to see any Arab faces.  The people are
>>standard sub-Saharan African, i.e. black.

>    Don't let racial stereotypes interfere with the learning process:

>    Here's a definition taken from The American Heritage Dictionary:

>    Arab    1. A native or inhabitant of Arabia

Not applicable to Somalia.

>            2. Any of a Semitic people originally from Arabia but later
>               widely scattered throughout the Near East, North Africa,
>               and the Arabian Peninsula [including Somalia].

Not applicable to Somaila.  They are not Semitic people.  Somalia is not
part of the Arabian Peninsula (which is in Asia), not is it considered
part of North Africa or the Near East.  Your addition of "including
Somalia" into the definition is cute, but certainly not an argument from
authority.

>            3. Any of a nomadic people living in in Near Estearn and
>               North African desert regions.

Not applicable to Somalia.  This refers to a SPECIFIC nomadic people,
which the Somali people are not part of.  As above, Somalia is not part
of the Near East nor North Africa according to standard definitions.
Many of the people in northern Somalia are nomadic, however.  Those in
the south (where the starvation is) are settled.

>    According to the Boston Globe (Dec. 6, 1992), Somali is the national
>    language, Arabic is an official language, English and Italian are also 
>    spoken.

This is correct.  Arabic is an official language for religious reasons
as it is the language of the Koran and therefore of Allah (according to
the religion).  The vast majority of the people speak Somali, although 
of the minority who can read, many of them have likely learned to read
Arabic *also* in order to read the Koran in Arabic.

>    Finally, Somalia is a member of the Arab League.

True, they did so to join with their fellow religionists in an
organization that reached the borders of their country.


This whole line of discussion started because someone was dismissing the
idea that the US should aid Somalia because their "Arab brothers" (or
some such) should do it.  This comment was probably intended to gather
support for its thesis by tapping into the anti-Arab racism in the US.

I merely pointed out that Somalia is not an Arab country and that there
are very few Arabs who live there.  In fact, on the basis of
"brotherhood" the US should give aid to support their black brothers in
Somalia as the US has around 30 million blacks.  

The US is far more of a "Black Country" than Somalia is an "Arab
Country".  However I would not consider it such. (<= Flamers please note.)

-- 
doug foxvog     
dfo@tko.vtt.fi   
Newsgroups: alt.current-events.somalia,alt.politics.bush,alt.president.clinton