The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic (TFC) was the principle organizing document of Somalia. Written and approved in February 2004, it represented one of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs). The other TFIs included the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), which was the legislative branch, and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the TFI's executive wing.
The TFC was distinct from the national constitution, which was distinguished as a separate document (Chapter 4, Article 11, Section 3(a)).
On 1 August 2012, an 825-member national constituent assembly approved a new provisional constitution by a landslide of 96% for the Federal Republic of Somalia.
The Charter's first Chapter establishes the Transitional Federal Government as the sovereign government of Somalia (Article 1), and gives the government supremacy of law over the nation (Article 3).
It defines Somalia in Article 3 as having the following borders:
(a) North; Gulf of Aden.
(b) North West; Djibouti.
(c) West; Ethiopia.
(d) South south-west; Kenya.
Article 4 also stipulates that all disputes regarding inconsistencies between national laws and the Charter should be brought before the Supreme Court for adjudication.
This chapter grants citizenship to all persons who were citizens of the Somali Republic at the time the Charter came into effect, and extends citizenship to all those who were born in the Somali Republic, or whose father is a citizen of the Somali Republic, so long as that did not conflict with other citizenships (Article 10).
This Chapter defines the government as a federation and describes the nature of the federal government. It defines the scope and structure of the republic as a hierarchy (Article 11):