Ananta Insights | Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland: A Backgrounder | Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | February 2026

Introduction: Somalia and its proto-statelets, viz. Somaliland and Puntland have been sporadically in the news over the past 35 years – mostly for the wrong reasons. They have faced protracted political instability and uncertainty, recurring famines, scourges such as terror and piracy, as well as underdevelopment and misgovernance.

2. Geopolitical Importance of Somalia:  The country lies at the Horn of Africa and near the strategic choke point of Bab al-Mandeb through which nearly one-eighth of global maritime trade passes. The recent two-year-long al-Houthi attempts to blockade the maritime traffic in support of the Hamas militia fighting Israel highlighted both the importance and the vulnerability of the region. Somalia lies in the Horn of Africa – Gulf of Aden region with civil wars underway in Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen, as well as renewed tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Long bouts of political vacuum, corruption and misgovernance gave rise to decades of the modern world’s worst piracy and Islamic terrorism by al-Shabab and Islamic State. On the positive side, the country has Africa’s largest coastline of over 3,300 kms, ample pastoral and farmlands and significant – hitherto unexplored – deposits of uranium and offshore hydrocarbons. All these features have highlighted the geostrategic importance of Somalia and invited attention from stakeholders, including Israel, which on December 25, 2025, became the first country to recognise Somaliland as a country.

3. Basic Data on Somalia:  Table 1 below provides the relevant basic information on Somalia. It is worth mentioning that due to misgovernance and disturbed conditions, the data is often the best possible estimate.

4. Brief History: Two geographical factors have influenced the history of Somalia. First, geographically, it is the easternmost corner of continental Africa. This brings it physically closer to Asia in general and South Asia in particular. Throughout much of ancient and medieval history, ports in northern Somalia acted as a natural transit for seaborne trade between Asia and the interior of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. This link was particularly strong during the frequent disruptions in the Arab world. Secondly, Somalia, being in a relatively obscure and geographically remote corner of the Arab world, was lightly touched by historic tendencies such as Roman and Ottoman empires and military campaigns by Abyssinian kings and Islamic Khalifates. In the same vein, being both a Sahel and coastal country,  Somalian history is a mélange of these influences. It, nevertheless, evolved its own socio-cultural and political nuances. Moreover, being a sparsely populated nomadic tribal population thinly spread across an oblongly shaped country presaged variable influences over time, giving the society humongous diversity.

4.1 In the Pharaonic era, Somalia was known as “Land of Punts.” After their conquest of the Nabatean Kingdom in 106 AD, the Romans established a naval presence at Aden to curb piracy. They prohibited Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian Peninsula, ostensibly to protect the interests of Arab merchants in the lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas. However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference. For the next few centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon to Somalia from Ceylon and the Spice Islands. The source of the spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed it was locally sourced in the Somali peninsula. The collaboration between Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Asian cinnamon in markets across North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, thereby making the spice trade profitable, especially for the Somali merchants who acted as intermediaries for this commodity.

4.2 Sunni Islam arrived on the northern Somalia coast, facing Yemen, relatively late in the 13^th century AD and slowly spread to the south and the hinterland. While almost all Somalis are Sunni Muslims today, their socio-religious practices are also deeply influenced by tribal and clannish traditions guided by their elders.

4.3 The historical dynamics of Somalia received a new impetus in medieval times, when the Crusades disrupted the supplies of Asian products to Europe by land, forcing them to look for maritime alternatives.  The commencement of maritime trade with India and the Far East, colonisation and the opening of the Suez Canal affected Somalia in multiple ways. While its role as a spice trade intermediary was lost, its coastal areas became geostrategically significant to secure the sea access to India. Thus, the British, having occupied Aden across the Gulf, proceeded to expand their turf in northern Somalia from 1825 onwards, alternating between military campaigns and peace and trade arrangements with various clans. These culminated in the formal treaties the British signed with the henceforth ‘British Somaliland’ clans, which took place between 1884 and 1886 and paved the way for the British to establish a protectorate in the region referred to as British Somaliland. The British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it as part of British India until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905, and afterwards by the Colonial Office. In the context of first world war, the Somali clans waged so-called Dervish wars against the British during the first two decades of the twentieth century but failed to dislodge the latter.  In 1936, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, proclaimed the formation of “Italian East Africa” following the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and the colonies of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The British and their allies as well as colonial forces under their command, managed to defeat the Italian forces in November 1941. While British Somaliland stayed under British protection, the rest of Somalia was put under the Italian protectorate. Eventually, both parts were granted their respective independence in June-July 1960, and decided to merge into the Somali Republic on July 1, 1960. A referendum on July 20 1961, approved the new constitution.

4.4 Misgivings soon emerged in Somaliland about the Somali Republic being dominated by the southerners. Some British-trained Somaliland officers attempted a revolt to end the union as early as  December 1961. Their uprising failed, and Somaliland continued to be marginalised by the south during the next decades. This discrimination increasingly escalated to repression during the military rule of Mohammed Siad Barre (1969-91). This led to many armed movements, including the Somali National Movement (SNM), a Somaliland outfit, which declared independence of the territory in April-May 1991. The end of Barre’s regime resulted in a power vacuum in the rest of Somalia, and fissiparous tendencies resulted in widespread chaos and anarchy despite frequent attempts to create an orderly transition by interested local and foreign stakeholders. It was not until 2007 that an internationally recognised government of Somalia, titled Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was installed in Mogadishu with the help of the Ethiopian army. It led a precarious existence in the face of al-Shabab militancy that forced the Ethiopian army to leave Somalia. The TFG folded up on 20 August 2012, when its tenure officially ended. It was succeeded by the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war, created on the basis of a new constitution proclaimed on August 1 2012. While al-Shabab has been decimated as a political force, it is still active as a terrorist entity, esp. in the southern part of Somalia bordering Kenya.

5. Current Politics and Geopolitics: In 2012, the Federal Government of Somalia was established and is currently the internationally recognised government of Somalia. It has had a degree of success in stabilising the socio-political and security conditions in the country. The national constitution, passed on June 23, 2012, lays out the basic political pathway. The President is elected by the Parliament. He chooses the Prime Minister, who serves as the head of government and leads the Council of Ministers. The most executive powers of the Somali government are vested in the Council of Ministers. Somalia has a bicameral Parliament consisting of a 275-seat lower house, as well as an upper house, capped at 54 representatives. By law, at least 30% of all MPs must be women. The country has successfully held general elections in 2016-17 and 2021-22. The first elections were through indirect suffrage, while the second one was a one-person-one-vote direct vote.   The incumbent President of Somalia is Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected by the parliament in May 2022. He appointed Hamza Abdi Barre as the Prime Minister. Somalia is being pursued by Turkey (which has dispatched a ship to explore offshore hydrocarbons) , Egypt (Trying to form a common front against Ethiopia), China (for economic and commercial projects) and others for its economic and geo-strategic importance. 

5.1 While the Somali constitution describes Puntland as one of the seven autonomous regions within Somalia, Puntland considers itself an “autonomous state” with Garoowe as its capital. Puntland came into existence in 1998 and currently has Said Abdullahi Deni as its President.  On 31 March 2024, following changes due to the constitutional crisis in Somalia, the government of Puntland stated that it no longer recognises the authority of the Somali federal government and would no longer participate in Somali federal institutions. It has declared that it will “act independently”, or “exercise powers of an independent state”, until there is a federal government with a constitution agreed upon in a referendum in which Puntland participates. This statement has raised some uncertainty about the future course of its presence in the Somali federal polity. Separately, the Puntland government has been actively engaged in seeking foreign tie-ups and investments in infrastructure development in sectors such as port, airport, free zones, health and education. The UAE and its companies have become major investors in Puntland. Relevant to note here that the UAE has been a strategic investor in littoral states or statelets in this “Gulf of Aden – Horn of Africa” arc, with particular interest in ports, airports and agricultural land. The socio-economic indicators for Puntland are far better than those of Somalia or Somaliland.

5.2 Somaliland has a specific history with long associations with each of Britain, Yemen, Ethiopia and Djibouti the last three being immediate neighbours. Its three-decade-long merger in Somalia was disappointing to most Somalilanders, and it has braved its “independence” unrecognised for nearly 35 years until Israel became the first country to do so two months ago when the Israeli foreign minister visited Somaliland capital Hargeisa and met President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. While Israel did not attribute any specific motives for its initiative, most observers believe that it is meant to get a toehold closer to the strategic choke point of Bab al-Mandeb and the Yemeni Houthi militia that had tried to disrupt global maritime and lobbed rockets and drones on Israel in support of Hamas. Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi is expected to visit Jerusalem at the end of March 2025 for his first official trip to Israel. Earlier on 1 January 2024, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Somaliland President, providing that Somaliland would lease 19 kilometres of its Gulf of Aden coastline to Ethiopia. In return, the MoU reportedly includes a provision stating Ethiopia would recognise Somaliland as an independent state. This deal would realise Addis Ababa’s stated desire to have access to the Red Sea. The MoU was strongly denounced by Somalia, Egypt and Eritrea. Putting into question the future of Ethiopia-Somalia reconciliation brokered by Türkiye only a month before. Separately, the UAE has shown keen interest in infrastructure projects in Somaliland, particularly in the development of Berbera port.

5.3 In paras 4.3 and 4.4 above, we have briefly seen the history of Somaliland. Somalia has not recognised the independence of Somaliland and regards the area as one of its federal member states. On their part, the Somaliland authorities held a referendum on their new constitution in May 2001 that sought to ratify Somaliland’s self-declared independence and final separation from Somalia, restoring the nation’s independence for the first time since 1960.  99.9% of eligible voters took part in the referendum, and 97.1% of them voted in its favour. The Constitution of Somaliland defines the political system as a unitary state and a Presidential Republic, based on a multi-party democracy. Legislative power is held by a bicameral Parliament, with each house having 82 members.

5.4 A two-decade-old territorial dispute between Somaliland and Puntland over the Las Anod area (please see the map above) in the south of their common border has vitiated the ties. In August 2023, the Somaliland army had to retreat from the environs of Las Anod after being routed by the local forces called SSC-Khatumo, which were recognised two months later as an interim administration by the Federal Government of Somalia. Similarly, the resistance of some local clans makes Somaliland’s control on the eastern part of the British Somaliland territories somewhat tenuous.

6. Links with India: India closed its resident embassy in 1991 due to disturbed conditions. Its High Commission in Nairobi is concurrently accredited to Somalia. The Federal Republic of Somalia, however, maintains an embassy in New Delhi.  The details of bilateral ties can be accessed on HCI Nairobi’s website: https://www.hcinairobi.gov.in/eoinrb_pages/MzI4. There is significant direct trade of around $800 million between India and Somalia, some details of which are provided in the table above. There is also a likelihood of large Indian exports via third countries, such as the UAE, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. While details of people-to-people movement are not available, the disturbed conditions since 1991 have led to many Somalis seeking greener pastures in India. In recent times, too, the arrival of Somali nationals in India for education, carry trade, and medical tourism has continued. While the al-Shabab Islamic terror outfit is largely active in Somalia, Kenya and northern Mozambique, the possibility of its direct or indirect involvement against India due to our perceived pro-Israel stance cannot be ruled out. Indians, being the second largest seafarers on global merchant naval fleets, also suffered disproportionately in the hands of Somali pirates operating from the Puntland coast during the first decade of this century. Till recently, the Indian Navy had a strong deployment in the Gulf of Aden and the Western Indian Ocean to deter them and keep the sea lanes open and safe.

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The previous issue of Riyadh- Abu Dhabi  Rupture: Seven Decades of Recurring Frictions for the WANA Region are available here: LINK