Somalia and Jordan

How do Somalia and Jordan relate today?

Somalia and Jordan are both members of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Neither keeps a resident embassy in the other's capital. Somalia's ambassador in Damascus, Abiib Muse Farah, presented his credentials to King Abdullah II as non-resident ambassador on 6 September 2026 (Petra, 6 September 2026).

The closest recent tie is military. Somalia's Council of Ministers approved a defence cooperation agreement with Jordan on 28 August 2025, focused on training the Somali National Army (Raxanreeb, 28 August 2025). Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi met Jordan's chief of staff in Amman on 14 July 2026 (Petra, 14 July 2026).

Trade is small. In 2023 Jordan exported goods worth US$1.77 million to Somalia and imported US$1.08 million (WITS, Jordan exports; WITS, Jordan imports).

When did contact begin?

Relations date from January 1967. The trade paper Mideast Mirror recorded that "the first Somali ambassador designate to Jordan, Mr. Hassan Adam, arrived in Amman on January 1" 1967 (Mideast Mirror, 1967, quoted in Wikipedia's table of Somalia's relations).

Somalia joined the Arab League, of which Jordan is a founding member, on 14 February 1974 (Somali Archive, Barre's speech on joining the Arab League; Library of Congress, Somalia country study).

Who are the ambassadors and envoys?

Somalia's envoys to Jordan:

• Hassan Adam, first ambassador-designate, arrived in Amman on 1 January 1967 (Mideast Mirror, via Wikipedia).
• Tahir Mahmood Geely, non-resident ambassador, presented credentials to King Abdullah II at Basman Palace; the report gives no year (Ammon News).
• Abiib Muse Farah, non-resident ambassador, credentials accepted on 6 September 2026 (Petra). He is Somalia's resident ambassador in Syria (SANA, 2 September 2025).

No Jordanian ambassador to Somalia appears in the sources found.

Who built the tie?

• King Abdullah II met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Aqaba in April 2015, with the leaders of Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti (Royal Hashemite Court). He discussed counter-terrorism with him again in January 2016 (Royal Hashemite Court).
• Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia's president, phoned the King on 2 March 2026 to discuss the escalation in the region (Petra, 2 March 2026).
• Mahdi Mohamed Guled, then Somalia's deputy prime minister, met the King on the sidelines of the Aqaba Meetings on counter-terrorism (Royal Hashemite Court).
• Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, Somalia's defence minister, led a delegation to Jordan's General Command on 14 July 2026 (Petra).
• Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, chairman of Jordan's Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted Fiqi and called military cooperation "a key pillar" of the tie (Petra).
• Samir Mubaidain, Jordan's interior minister, met Somalia's interior minister Mohamed Abubakar Islow at a Council of Arab Interior Ministers session in Algeria. Islow asked for help with police training (Ammon News).
• Salah Ahmed Jama, acting prime minister, chaired the cabinet meeting that approved the defence agreement (Raxanreeb).

What agreements have they signed?

• August 2025: defence cooperation agreement between the two defence ministries, approved by Somalia's cabinet on 28 August 2025, covering training and capacity building (Raxanreeb).

No other bilateral treaty appears in the sources found.

Which leaders have visited?

• 1 January 1967: Somalia's first ambassador-designate in Amman (Wikipedia table).
• April 2015: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Aqaba (Royal Hashemite Court).
• 14 July 2026: Defence Minister Fiqi in Amman (Petra).

How much do they trade?

Jordan's exports to Somalia (WITS):

• 2019: US$3.21 million
• 2021: US$1.92 million
• 2023: US$1.77 million

Jordan's imports from Somalia were US$1.69 million in 2018 and US$1.08 million in 2023 (WITS).

In 2023 Jordan's main exports were medicines (US$519,000), vegetable and fruit preparations (US$371,000) and cereal preparations (US$333,000) (UN Comtrade). Its main import was fish (US$891,000) (UN Comtrade).

How much aid and money has gone in?

The UN's Financial Tracking Service records no humanitarian funding from Jordan to Somalia from 1999 to 2026 (OCHA FTS). Somalia owes Jordan no debt in the Ministry of Finance's end-2025 list (Ministry of Finance, FY2025 debt report).

What about security?

The 2025 defence agreement covers army training and capacity building (Raxanreeb). In July 2026 both sides discussed training programmes, joint exercises and counter-terrorism (Petra). See Foreign forces in Somalia.

How does Jordan deal with Somaliland and the member states?

Jordan treats Somaliland as part of Somalia:

• 27–28 December 2025: Jordan's foreign minister signed the joint statement of 21 states and the OIC rejecting Israel's recognition of Somaliland (Radio Algérie, 28 December 2025).
• May 2026: Jordan joined a 19-state statement rejecting Somaliland's plan to open an embassy in Jerusalem (Al-Quds, 26 May 2026).
• 16 June 2026: spokesman Fouad Majali called the embassy's opening "a blatant violation of international law" and restated "full support for the unity and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia" (Petra, 16 June 2026).

No dealings between Jordan and the member states appear in the sources found.

Have there been disputes?

No disputes between the two governments appear in the sources found.

How many Somalis live in Jordan?

UNHCR counted 324 Somali refugees in Jordan in 2025, down from 601 in 2015 (UNHCR population data, 2025; UNHCR, 2015).

Where does Jordan stand in the UN and other bodies on Somalia?

Jordan backs Somalia's unity in Arab League and OIC statements (Petra). The King has drawn Somali leaders into the Aqaba Process meetings on counter-terrorism in East Africa (Royal Hashemite Court).

Related pages

• Somalia and the Arab League
• Somalia and Israel
• Somalia and Syria
• Somaliland, 1991 to 2026
• Somali National Army
• Foreign forces in Somalia