East Africa Time
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East Africa Time (EAT) is a time zone three hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+03:00). It is the official time in many countries located in the Horn of Africa and East Africa, including Somalia.
This time zone does not observe daylight saving time, meaning the hour remains constant throughout the year. The reason is that the countries that use it are close to the equator, where the length of day and night does not vary significantly across the year.
Countries using this time zone
East Africa Time is used by Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Comoros. UTC+03:00 is also used by South Sudan and Madagascar. This same hour is also observed by other time zones with different names, such as Arabia Standard Time used in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Basis for calculation
UTC+03:00 is based on the meridian near 45 degrees east. When UTC is midday, East Africa is three in the morning. Computer systems and phones use time zone designations such as 'Africa/Mogadishu', 'Africa/Nairobi', and 'Africa/Addis_Ababa', all of which refer to the same offset from UTC.
Local hour-counting system
Somali and Ethiopian culture have a different hour-counting system that begins from sunrise. Typically, six in the morning in international time corresponds to one in the local count. Ethiopia uses this system widely in daily life. This does not change the official time zone of UTC+03:00; it is only an alternative way of designating the hours.