Diplomatic missions of Somalia

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.

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. 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. [ [http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=5375 Somaliland: Recognition & Development - Convention in Washingto] ]

Listed below are Somalian missions abroad, excluding honorary consulates. [ [http://www.worldinformation.com/worldroot/start.asp?content=world&continent=Africa&country=252&bodytext=embassies Embassies/Consulates of the Somali Republic] ]

Europe

*flag|France
**Paris (Embassy)
*flag|Italy
**Rome (Consulate-General)
*flag|Russia
**Moscow (Embassy)

Middle East

*flag|Iran
**Tehran (Embassy)
*flag|Kuwait
**Kuwait City (Embassy)
*flag|Oman
**Muscat (Embassy)
*flag|Qatar
**Doha (Embassy)
*flag|Saudi Arabia
**Riyadh (Embassy)
**Jeddah (Consulate-General)
*flag|United Arab Emirates
**Abu Dhabi (Embassy)
**Dubai (Consulate-General)
*flag|Yemen
**San‘a’ (Embassy)
**Aden (Consulate-General)

Africa

*flag|Djibouti
** Djibouti (Embassy)
*flag|Egypt
**Cairo (Embassy)
*flag|Sudan
**Khartoum (Embassy)

Asia

*flag|China
**Beijing (Embassy)
*flag|India
**New Delhi (Embassy)
*flag|Pakistan
**Islamabad (Embassy)

Multilateral Organisations

** New York (delegation to the United Nations)
** Geneva (delegation to the United Nations)

ee also

*Foreign relations of Somalia

References