Foreign relations of Somalia

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Somalia
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Somalia

Transitional Federal Charter Executive Transitional Federal Government President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed Prime Minister of Somalia Ali Mohammed Ghedi Ministry of Defense Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale Military of Somalia Legislative Transitional Federal Parliament List of MPs Judiciary Judiciary of Somalia Islamic Courts Union States Galmudug Jubaland Puntland Southwestern Somalia See also: Politics of Somaliland Regions Districts Elections Political parties Foreign relations Human Rights
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Foreign relations of Somalia are handled primarily by the President as the head of state, Prime Minister as the head of government, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Federal Government.

1 Transitional Federal Government representatives for foreign affairs
2 Disputes
3 Expatriate Community
4 Current Relations
5 History
6 Notes and references

[edit] Transitional Federal Government representatives for foreign affairs

Ismail Mohammed Hurreh Buba is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ismail Qasim Naji - Ambassador to Oman, appointed February 10, 2007^[1]
Mohammed Ali America - Ambassador to Kenya, appointed February 10, 2007^[1]
Hassan Mohammed Siad Barre - Ambassador to Yemen, appointed February 10, 2007^[1]
Muse Hirsi Fahiye - Ambassador to Djibouti, appointed February 10, 2007^[1]

[edit] Disputes

Somalia's only major international dispute is with Ethiopia over the Ogaden. Most of the southern half of the boundary is a Provisional Administrative Line.

A goal of Somali nationalism is to unite the other Somali-inhabited territories in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti into a pan-Somali Greater Somalia. This issue has been a major cause of past crises between Somalia and its neighbors. The Islamic Courts Union was a proponent of Greater Somalia, whereas the TFG administration has tried to alleviate such concerns.

[edit] Expatriate Community

The status of expatriate Somalis has been an important foreign and domestic issue.

In April 2005, Saudi Arabia beheaded six Somali nationals for auto theft, causing tension between the two countries. Without a government however, Somalia couldn't intervene on behalf of its citizens. Somalis all over the world have protested the Saudi action.

[edit] Current Relations

Main article: Diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the Somali Civil War

The current Transitional Federal Government has been accepted by the Arab League (AL), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the African Union (AU), and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The IGAD and AU member states are presently considering a UN-sanctioned peacekeeping mission, IGASOM, to help stabilize Somalia.

Somalia is one of the few nations in the world not to have diplomatic relations with the United States.

In 2006, the United States took the lead in establishing the International Somalia Contact Group ^[2]

[edit] History

After independence in 1960, Somalia followed a foreign policy of nonalignment. It received major economic assistance from the United States, Italy, and the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as from the Soviet Union and China. The government also sought ties with many Arab countries.

In 1963, Somalia severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom for a period following a dispute over Kenya's northeastern region (Northern Frontier District), an area inhabited mainly by Somalis. Somalia urged self-determination for the people of the area, while Kenya refused to consider any steps that might threaten its territorial integrity. Related problems have arisen from the boundary with Ethiopia and the large-scale migrations of Somali nomads between Ethiopia and Somalia.

During the regime of Siad Barre, he at first was closely aligned with the Soviet Union but lost support after the 1977–78 Ogaden War, when the Soviet Union and Cuba backed the Communist Derg of Ethiopia.

In the aftermath of the Ogaden war, the Government of Somalia continued to call for self-determination for ethnic Somalis living in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. At the March 1983 Nonaligned Movement summit in New Delhi, President Siad Barre stated that Somalia harbored no expansionist aims and was willing to negotiate with Ethiopia.

Since the fall of the Barre regime in 1991, the foreign policy of the various entities in Somalia has centered on gaining international recognition, winning international support for national reconciliation, and obtaining international economic assistance. However, many of those goals were upset by the failure and ultimate withdrawal of the UN missions to Somalia 1992–1995. No power in Somalia was seen as holding the sovereign authority over the state, and thus, foreign relations on a formal basis were untenable.

The self-declared but unrecognized state of Somaliland and the autonomous state of Puntland have sought to develop international relationships of their own. Somaliland, which has operated independently since 1991, specifically seeks recognition in the UN, AU, and other international organizations, as well as the ability to develop formal bilateral diplomatic and economic relations.^[3]