2017

2017 was an ordinary year beginning on a Sunday, following the Gregorian calendar. It was the 2017th year of the Common Era (CE), the 17th year of the 21st century, and the third year of the 2010s decade.

Major events of the year included the presidential election in Somalia in February, severe drought across the Horn of Africa, a large bombing in Mogadishu on 14 October, mass displacement of Rohingya people, and the United States decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

Somalia: election and political transition

In February 2017, members of both chambers of the Somali parliament elected Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) as president in Mogadishu. According to UN media reports, Farmaajo received 184 votes, while the outgoing president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud received 97 votes, and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed came third with 46 votes. The election was not a direct popular vote but rather a parliamentary one conducted at a heavily secured facility at the airport.

Throughout the year, Somalia experienced prolonged drought following the impact of the 2015–2016 El Niño. International agencies warned that famine was possible, similar to the 2011 crisis. By the end of 2017, UNICEF reported that 6.2 million people, including 3.4 million children, needed humanitarian assistance, though emergency aid prevented a formal famine declaration.

On 14 October 2017, a car bomb detonated at a busy intersection in Mogadishu. Death tolls varied across sources: government officials reported 358 deaths by late October, while a state-appointed investigation committee reported 512 deaths in December, with approximately 70 missing and 295 still recovering. The attack was described as the deadliest in modern Somali history.

Climate and environment

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), comparing data from five global monitoring systems, confirmed that the global average temperature in 2017 was approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, making 2015, 2016, and 2017 the three warmest years on record. 2017 was notable because its warmth did not depend on a strong El Niño as in 2016.

On 1 June 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that his country would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and cease implementation of the country's climate commitments and contributions to the Green Climate Fund. Under the agreement's legal provisions, withdrawal did not take effect that same year but rather after a waiting period of several years.

Other global events

The year also saw Trump's inauguration as US president in January, mass displacement of Rohingya refugees from Rakhine fleeing to Bangladesh beginning in August, significant territorial losses by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and a political transition in Zimbabwe in November when Robert Mugabe relinquished power.