Foreign Relations of Somalia - History

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 the People's Republic of China.

In 1963, Somalia severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom for a period following a dispute over the Northern Frontier District (NFD), an area traditionally inhabited almost exclusively by Somalis. In accordance with an informal plebiscite demonstrating the overwhelming desire of the region's population to join the newly-formed Somali Republic, Led by the Northern Province People's Progressive Party (NPPPP), Somalis in the NFD vigorously sought union with the Somali Republic to the north, and Somalia similarly urged self-determination for the Cushitic peoples of the area. In response, the Kenyan government enacted a number of repressive measures designed to frustrate their efforts, including the creation of concentration camps.

A similar dispute involves the Ogaden, another territory in the Horn of Africa that has traditionally and predominantly been inhabited by ethnic Somalis. In 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of the Somalis, the British "returned" the Hawd (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably 'protected' by British treaties with the Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Ogaden to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against the Somali clans, by plundering the clans. Britain included the proviso that the Somali nomads would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over them. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over.

During the socialist administration of Siad Barre, Somalia was at first closely aligned with the Soviet Union, a relationship which enabled it to amass among the largest armored and mechanized forces on the continent. With this robust security force, the military of Somalia managed to invade and subdue the much sought after Ogaden in a matter of days. However, this changed when the Soviet Union, Somalia's former ally and one of the world's two superpowers, along with Cuba opted to throw their support behind the newly-Communist Derg of Ethiopia in the Ogaden War of 1977–78. With this increased presence of foreign troops, the Somali army was successfully driven out of the region. Barre subsequently tore up his friendship treaty with the Soviets, and expelled their representatives to Somalia. His administration subsequently began a working relationship with the United States, the Soviet Union's cold war rival.

In the aftermath of the Ogaden war, although Barre stated at the March 1983 Nonaligned Movement summit in New Delhi that Somalia had no designs on the Ogaden and was willing to negotiate with Ethiopia, the government of Somalia continued to call for self-determination for the ethnic Somali majority living in the Ogaden.

Since the fall of the Barre regime in 1991 and the breakout of the Somali civil war, the foreign policy of the various entities in Somalia centered on gaining international recognition, winning international support for national reconciliation, and obtaining international economic assistance. 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. However, this changed with the establishment in 2004 of the Transitional Federal Government, an entity which currently enjoys international recognition and support.

The autonomous Somaliland macro-region, which has operated independently since 1991, has also sought to develop its own foreign relations. It specifically seeks recognition in the UN, AU, and other international organizations, as well as the ability to develop formal bilateral diplomatic and economic relations.