Somali National Army (Xoogga Dalka Soomaaliyeed)

In short

The Somali National Army (SNA) is the main armed force of the Federal Government of Somalia. Its commander-in-chief is the president; it is run through the Ministry of Defence and led by a Chief of Defence Forces (Wikipedia, Somali Armed Forces). In January 2026 the cabinet appointed Brigadier General Ibrahim Mohamed Mohamud as army chief (SONNA, 29 January 2026).

Its main task today is the war with al-Shabaab. This page records what the army is, how it is built and paid for, and what researchers say about it.

1960–1991: the first army

A law of 6 April 1960 created the army, and 12 April, now Armed Forces Day, marks its founding. It was formed from the police mobile group (Darawishta) and the British Somaliland Scouts, with Colonel Daud Abdulle Hirsi as its first commander (Wikipedia).

With Soviet loans and advisers it grew from about 12,000 troops in 1970 to 22,000 in 1976, and by the late 1970s had one of the largest armoured forces in sub-Saharan Africa (same source, citing the IISS Military Balance and the Library of Congress). It fought the Ogaden war of 1977–78. In October 1969 army officers led by Siad Barre took power; see Siad Barre era, 1969–1991. When the government fell in January 1991 the army broke apart, and in January 1992 the UN placed an arms embargo on Somalia (same source).

Rebuilding, 2008–2023

The present army dates from 2008, under the Transitional Federal Government. The BBC reported in December 2008 that most of its new soldiers had left (Wikipedia, Somali National Army, citing BBC News, 12 December 2008). Paul D. Williams, who has studied the army since 2008, records that it grew on paper from under 7,000 troops in 2009 to about 32,000 by 2024 (Paul D. Williams, CTC Sentinel, April 2024).

Divisions were re-formed from 2013: Division 60 at Baidoa and Division 21 at Dhusamareb that year, and later Divisions 12 April, 27, 26 and 43 (Wikipedia). Biometric registration began in 2014 to remove "ghost soldiers" from the payroll (Wikipedia).

In December 2023 the UN Security Council lifted the arms embargo on the federal government (CTC Sentinel, 2024). In 2026 the army received its first tanks in decades (Wikipedia).

Special units

• Danab ("Lightning"). A commando force trained first by the US contractor Bancroft Global Development at Baledogle airfield from October 2013, then by US special forces. It recruits from all clans and accepts women. Williams puts it at about 2,000 troops (Wikipedia, Danab Brigade; Hiiraan Online, 8 February 2014; CTC Sentinel, 2024).
• Gorgor ("Eagle"). Battalions trained by Turkey, many at Camp TURKSOM in Mogadishu, opened in 2017. Williams puts them at about 6,000 (CTC Sentinel, 2024; Reuters, 1 October 2017). In 2026 the first full Gorgor commando brigade graduated in Turkey (Shabelle Media, 8 August 2026).
• Eritrea-trained troops. About 5,000 recruits trained in Eritrea from 2019 began returning in December 2022. Voice of America found no evidence that they had been sent to the Tigray war (Wikipedia, citing VOA).

Who trains and pays it

Williams records that about two-thirds of the army's budget comes from outside donors, and that defence was nearly a quarter of the 2024 federal budget of US$1.1 billion. The main partners are the United States, Turkey, the European Union (whose training mission has trained about 7,000 soldiers since 2010), the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, with the UK the main funder of a UN trust fund (CTC Sentinel, 2024). Egypt, Italy, Uganda and Ethiopia have also trained Somali soldiers.

Air and sea

The army has no working air force or navy of its own; see Somali Air Force and Somali Navy. Turkey has flown armed drones from Mogadishu since late 2022, and in 2025 sent attack helicopters that Turkish officials said stayed under Turkish control (Wikipedia).

What researchers say

Williams's 2024 net assessment judged that al-Shabaab held "a slight overall military advantage" in how it used its forces, cohesion and morale, even though the army was probably more than twice its size. It names roadside bombs as the main cause of army casualties, and reports that more than 1,300 Gorgor troops deserted during the recent offensive (CTC Sentinel, 2024). The UN reported that the army recruited 121 children between 2019 and 2022 (same source). The offensive itself is described in the 2022–2025 offensive against al-Shabaab.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Paul D. Williams, "The Somali National Army versus al-Shabaab: A net assessment", CTC Sentinel 17:4 (2024): article.
• Colin D. Robinson, "Glimpse into an army at its peak", Defense & Security Analysis (2019), on the army of the 1980s: article.