A Somalian child recovering in the hospital after being blinded and injured while playing with a landmine in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. The three leading causes of death in Somalia are gastro-enteritis, T.B. and trauma, mostly from land mines, gun shots, and car accidents. Somaliland is the breakaway republic in northern Somalia that declared independence in 1991 after 50,000 died in civil war. March 1992.