Ministry of Defence of Somalia (Wasaaradda Gaashaandhigga): what it does and who has led it

What it does

The Ministry of Defence co-ordinates and supervises the federal government's work on national security and the Somali Armed Forces: the army, the air force and the navy. It sets defence policy and provides resources to the armed forces, which are responsible for the country's territorial integrity. The President of Somalia is supreme commander of the armed forces (Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia)). Day-to-day command of the army sits with the Chief of Defence Forces (Wikipedia, Somali Armed Forces). The ministry's website is mod.gov.so. For the forces themselves, see Somali National Army, Somali Air Force and Somali Navy.

How it is organised

Under the minister and deputy minister, a secretary-general runs the ministry, with three deputy secretaries-general for development, policy and management. Their divisions cover procurement, the defence industry, human resources, finance and accounts, alongside an internal audit division, a legal division and an integrity unit. The Chief of Defence Forces, with the chiefs of the army, navy and air force and the director of defence intelligence, also sits in the ministry's chart (Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia)).

History

1960 to 1991. After independence, the Darawishta of the south merged with the Somaliland Scouts of the former British protectorate and new recruits to form a Somali National Army of about 5,000. Its first commander was Colonel Daud Abdulle Hirsi, and officers trained in the United Kingdom, Egypt and Italy (Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia), citing Colin D. Robinson, Defense & Security Analysis, 2019, and the Library of Congress Country Study, 1992). After the coup of October 1969, most defence ministers came from the Supreme Revolutionary Council. The armed forces broke apart with the civil war at the end of the 1980s (same source).

2004 to 2012. The armed forces were rebuilt step by step after the Transitional Federal Government was set up in 2004. When Abdihakim Mohamoud Haji-Faqi became minister in November 2010, the ministry worked from two rooms in a privately owned building, with no internet or electricity, because al-Shabaab held the ministry's own building (Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia), citing Harun Maruf and Dan Joseph, Inside Al-Shabaab, 2018, p. 167).

The Guulwade Plan. In April 2015 the ministry launched the Guulwade (Victory) Plan, a roadmap for the federal armed forces drawn up with the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia. International partners were to train and support 10,900 soldiers drawn from different regions (UN Security Council, S/2015/331).

December 2021. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble swapped the defence and justice ministers, moving Hassan Hussein Haji to justice and Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur to defence. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmaajo" suspended Roble the next day (The EastAfrican, 27 December 2021).

Money and payroll

About two-thirds of the army's budget comes from outside donors, and defence was nearly a quarter of the 2024 federal budget of $1.1 billion, according to an assessment in the US Military Academy's CTC Sentinel (CTC Sentinel, 2024). In April 2026 Fiqi said soldiers' pay would be tied to monthly verification and deployment checks under a new payroll system, and that the ministry had finished a digital registration of security personnel. The meeting, with the World Bank and other partners, also covered procurement, pensions and draft defence legislation (Dawan Africa, 28 April 2026). For the federal budget, see The federal budget and taxes.

The minister today

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre moved Ahmed Moalim Fiqi from foreign affairs to defence in April 2025, replacing Jibril Abdirashid Haji, who became deputy prime minister (Reuters, 27 April 2025; Garowe Online). In September 2026 he said al-Shabaab would be unable to capture a single village even if African Union troops left (Dawan Africa, 20 September 2026).

Defence ministers

Source for the table: Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia), which for 1960 to 1991 cites Mohamed Haji Mukhtar, Historical Dictionary of Somalia (2003). Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdurahman left the post when he was elected speaker of parliament (Reuters, 30 April 2018). Where the To column is empty, the source gives no end date.

Sources disagree

• Samatar's years. The source list gives Mohamed Ali Samatar as minister from 1970 to 1987, but also lists Brigadier General Omar Haji Mohamed as minister from October 1981 to 1982, citing the US Army country study of 1982 (Wikipedia, Ministry of Defence (Somalia)).
• 1971. The same page says Major General Muhammad Ainanshe, a member of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, lost the defence portfolio on 10 April 1971, citing Daniel Compagnon's thesis, but he does not appear in its list of ministers (same source).
• 2018 to 2020. The list has no minister between Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdurahman in March 2018 and Hassan Hussein Haji in 2020 (same source).