Somalia and Norway

How do Somalia and Norway relate today?

Norway has no embassy in Mogadishu. Its embassy in Nairobi covers Somalia, and aid is managed from Nairobi and Oslo (Norad Evaluation Department, Report 7/2020). Norway also has a special envoy for Somalia, a post created in 2012 (Norad, 2020).

Somalia has been a Norwegian focus country for aid since 2014 (Norad, 2020). Norway's biggest single act was a US$365.9 million bridge loan in March 2020 that cleared Somalia's arrears to the World Bank (World Bank, 5 March 2020).

In 2026 Norwegian humanitarian aid to Somalia is set at NOK 102 million, including NOK 15 million of emergency aid for the World Food Programme (Norad, 27 April 2026). Trade is small: Norway exported goods worth US$118,308 to Somalia in 2024 (UN Comtrade).

When did contact begin?

Norway paid little attention to Somalia in its first decade of independence, according to a 2022 University of Oslo history thesis by Svein-Olav Gjeitanger Kaurin (Kaurin, University of Oslo, 2022). From 1972 to 1993 Norway turned down Somali requests for direct bilateral development aid (Kaurin, 2022). Somalia was among the countries that asked to become a Norwegian aid partner in the 1970s and were not chosen (Kaurin, 2022).

The thesis also finds that Norway gave humanitarian aid to Somalia earlier than was commonly thought (Kaurin, 2022). Norway's political role grew during its 2001 to 2002 seat on the UN Security Council, when it led the Council's work on Somalia (Norad, 2020).

From 2006 Norway co-chaired the International Contact Group on Somalia with the United States, and it hosted the group in Oslo on 30 April 2008 (ReliefWeb, 2008). Formal development ties began on 30 June 2013 with a cooperation agreement signed in Mogadishu (Government of Norway, 30 June 2013).

Who are the ambassadors and envoys?

Norway's ambassador to Somalia lives in Nairobi. Somalia's ambassador in Stockholm covers Norway.

• Jens Mjaugedal, Norwegian special envoy for Somalia, 2012 to 2015. He came from the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Nordic International Support Foundation (Norad, 2020).
• Victor Conrad Rønneberg, ambassador, based in Kenya. He presented credentials in Mogadishu on 18 March 2015, the first Norwegian ambassador to Somalia in 25 years (Garowe Online, 18 March 2015). President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud received him (Goobjoog, 18 March 2015).
• Special envoy from 2018: a former minister counsellor at the Nairobi embassy (2014 to 2018), named only by title in Norad's evaluation (Norad, 2020).
• Heidi Elburgi Johansen, special envoy for Somalia from November 2020 (Nordic Women Mediators). In March 2024 her title was special representative for peace and reconciliation in Somalia (Halqabsi, March 2024).
• Gunnar Andreas Holm, ambassador to Somalia, led a foreign ministry delegation to Mogadishu in April 2023 (Hiiraan Online, 20 April 2023).
• Erling Hess, head of the embassy for Kenya and Somalia, and Carsten Carlsen of the Norwegian embassy met Somalia's Auditor General on 16 January 2024 (SONNA, 16 January 2024).
• Vebjørn Heines, special envoy to Somalia, met UAE minister Anwar Gargash in August 2024 (Garowe Online, August 2024).
• Einar Rystad, Norway's envoy to Somalia, led a delegation to Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi on 17 November 2024 (SONNA, 17 November 2024). Qatar's foreign ministry also met him as Norway's envoy in March 2025 (Qatar MFA, 19 March 2025).
• Siv Cathrine Moe, newly appointed ambassador, gave a copy of her credentials to Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali in Mogadishu in December 2025 (Somalia MFA, December 2025).
• Abdi Karim Ahmed Mohamed, Somalia's ambassador to the Nordic countries, presented credentials to King Harald V in Oslo on 13 February 2026 (SONNA, 13 February 2026).

Who built the tie?

• Jens Mjaugedal, special envoy from 2012, started the Special Financing Facility, Norway's direct budget channel to the new federal government (Norad, 2020).
• Heikki Holmås, Minister of International Development, agreed the facility with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2012 (Norad, 2020). He signed the June 2013 cooperation agreement in Mogadishu (Government of Norway, 30 June 2013).
• Fowsiyo Yusuf Haji Aadan, Somalia's foreign minister, signed that 2013 agreement for Somalia, with the president as witness (Hiiraan Online, June 2013).
• Hans Wilhelm Longva, Norwegian ambassador, drafted the 2009 Kenya–Somalia memorandum on the continental shelf as part of Norwegian technical help (International Court of Justice, judgment of 2 February 2017).
• Børge Brende made the first visit by a Norwegian foreign minister to Somalia on 29 June 2017 (Government of Norway, 29 June 2017).
• Ine Eriksen Søreide, foreign minister, visited Mogadishu on 10 June 2019 (Garowe Online, 10 June 2019). She spoke for Norway when the 2020 bridge loan cleared Somalia's World Bank arrears (World Bank, 5 March 2020).
• Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, presented the bridge loan plan in October 2019 (Government of Norway, October 2019).
• Abdirahman Duale Beileh, Somalia's finance minister, led Somalia's side of the arrears clearance (World Bank, 5 March 2020).
• Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister of International Development, visited Somalia in December 2022 and announced more aid and a World Bank agreement (Government of Norway, 5 December 2022).
• Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister, met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Oslo on 11 June 2024 (Villa Somalia, 11 June 2024).

What agreements have they signed?

• 7 April 2009: Kenya–Somalia memorandum of understanding on the continental shelf, drafted by Norwegian ambassador Hans Wilhelm Longva. Norway was not a party (ICJ, 2 February 2017).
• 2012: agreement between Heikki Holmås and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to set up the Special Financing Facility (Norad, 2020).
• 30 June 2013: development cooperation agreement, signed in Mogadishu (Government of Norway, 30 June 2013).
• March 2020: bridge loan of US$365.9 million to clear arrears to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) (World Bank, 5 March 2020).
• 2020: bilateral debt agreement under the Paris Club deal of 31 March 2020, cancelling NOK 16.2 million owed to Norway (Government of Norway; Paris Club, 31 March 2020).
• December 2022: agreement with the World Bank on governance, climate adaptation and food security in Somalia (Government of Norway, 5 December 2022).

Which leaders have visited?

• 30 April 2008: Oslo hosts the International Contact Group on Somalia (ReliefWeb, 2008).
• June 2013: Development minister Heikki Holmås in Mogadishu (Government of Norway, 30 June 2013).
• 29 June 2017: Foreign minister Børge Brende in Mogadishu, meeting President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire (Government of Norway, 29 June 2017).
• 10 June 2019: Foreign minister Ine Eriksen Søreide in Mogadishu, met by Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled (Garowe Online, 10 June 2019).
• May 2019: Somalia co-hosts with Norway, Iraq and the UAE an Oslo conference on ending sexual and gender-based violence in crises (Government of Norway, 2019).
• December 2022: Development minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim in Somalia (Government of Norway, 5 December 2022).
• 10 to 12 June 2024: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Oslo for the Oslo Forum mediation retreat. He met Prime Minister Støre on 11 June (Villa Somalia, 11 June 2024; Garowe Online, June 2024).

How much do they trade?

Trade is very small. UN Comtrade records Norwegian exports to Somalia of:

• US$344,552 in 2015 (UN Comtrade)
• US$243,243 in 2020, with imports of US$5,410 (UN Comtrade)
• US$306,404 in 2023 (UN Comtrade)
• US$118,308 in 2024, with imports of US$9,996 (UN Comtrade)

In 2024 the largest export groups were vehicles, carpets, furniture and machinery (UN Comtrade, HS chapters, 2024).

Norwegian firms have been active in oil and gas surveys. In September 2015 Somalia signed a deal with Norway's Spectrum ASA for a 2D seismic survey of about 28,000 square kilometres offshore (The Citizen, 7 September 2015).

How much aid and money has gone in?

From 2012 to 2018 Norway disbursed NOK 2.7 billion to Somalia in its own aid statistics (Norad, 2020). Counting its core funding to UN agencies, the total was NOK 3.2 to 3.3 billion (Norad, 2020). Yearly spending more than doubled over the period (Norad, 2020).

The main channels in 2012 to 2018 were (Norad, 2020):

• World Bank Multi-Partner Fund: NOK 377 million.
• UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund: NOK 187 million.
• Special Financing Facility: NOK 102 million, folded into the World Bank fund from 2015.
• Norwegian Refugee Council: NOK 332 million.
• Norwegian Red Cross: NOK 197 million; Norwegian Church Aid: NOK 192 million; Save the Children Norway: NOK 110 million.
• Nordic International Support Foundation: about NOK 185 million.
• Somalia Stability Fund: NOK 142 million since 2012.
• Humanitarian aid: NOK 752 million in total.

The Special Financing Facility, launched in 2013, helped the new federal government pay salaries and run basic finances (Norad, 2020). It paved the way for the World Bank to work with the government (Norad, 2020). Proposed in December 2012, it made its first salary payments in August 2013 and covered ten months of salaries up to June 2014 (g7+, New Deal case study). A World Bank facility then took over salary payments from July 2014, using the system the facility had set up (g7+). Norway then backed the Somalia Development and Reconstruction Facility, set up in 2014 to coordinate donors under the New Deal Compact (Norad, 2020).

Debt. In October 2019 Norway proposed a short-term bridging loan of NOK 3.135 billion (Government of Norway, October 2019). On 5 March 2020 it lent US$365.9 million, which Somalia used to pay its IDA arrears (World Bank, 5 March 2020). A same-size IDA grant then repaid Norway, within hours (Government of Norway, 2020).

This cleared one of three arrears blocks. Italy bridged the IMF arrears and the United Kingdom, with an EU contribution, bridged the African Development Bank arrears (IMF, 25 March 2020). Somalia then reached the HIPC Decision Point on 25 March 2020 (IMF, 25 March 2020).

Norway cancelled NOK 16.2 million of Somalia's own debt to Norway. NOK 10.85 million went at signing and NOK 5.35 million at the HIPC Completion Point (Government of Norway).

OECD figures. Norway's bilateral aid disbursements to Somalia, in current US dollars, were US$84.2 million in 2011, US$66.8 million in 2018, US$71.6 million in 2023 and US$47.0 million in 2024 (OECD DAC2A).

Recent aid. In 2022 Norway gave almost NOK 200 million in humanitarian aid before adding NOK 25 million in December (Government of Norway, 5 December 2022). Norway put US$30 million into the World Bank's Somalia Multi-Partner Fund in December 2022 (Hiiraan Online, 4 December 2022). It plans NOK 102 million of humanitarian aid in 2026 (Norad, 27 April 2026).

What about security?

Norway's Somalia strategy for 2012 to 2015 included support for areas newly taken from Al-Shabaab and for the African Union and UN (Norad, 2020). It funded stabilisation through the Somalia Stability Fund (Norad, 2020). Norway's envoys have discussed Somalia's post-ATMIS security plans with the federal government (SONNA, 17 November 2024). For foreign military roles, see Foreign forces in Somalia.

How does Norway deal with Somaliland and the member states?

Norway works with Somaliland through its development programmes. It funded the Somaliland Development Fund with NOK 30 million in 2013 and 2015 (Norad, 2020). The UK also lists Norway among the fund's donors, with Denmark and the Netherlands (UK Government, Development support to Somaliland).

Norway's diplomats joined a group visit by international partners to Hargeisa on 2 and 3 April 2019 (UK Government, April 2019). In the first years after 2012 Norway funded the UN Joint Programme on Local Governance in Somaliland and Puntland (Norad, 2020).

Norway's evaluators visited Mogadishu, Baidoa, Hargeisa and Garowe for their 2020 review (Norad, 2020).

Have there been disputes?

In July 2013 the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea suggested that Norway's aid could serve as cover for commercial oil interests (UN Security Council, S/2013/436). The report linked this to Norwegian help on Somalia's continental shelf claim (Government of Norway, July 2013).

Norway rejected the claims. Its letter to the Security Council of 22 July 2013 called them erroneous, including those about the oil firm DNO and Statoil (UN Security Council, S/2013/436). Minister Heikki Holmås denied any link between the continental shelf help and oil interests (Government of Norway, July 2013).

The 2009 Kenya–Somalia memorandum drafted by a Norwegian ambassador later became part of the maritime case Somalia brought against Kenya. The International Court of Justice ruled on 2 February 2017 that the memorandum was a valid treaty and did not stop the Court hearing the case (ICJ, 2 February 2017).

How many Somalis live in Norway?

On 1 January 2026, 44,744 people of Somali background lived in Norway: 27,769 born in Somalia and 16,975 born in Norway to Somali-born parents (Statistics Norway, table 05183). See Norway (Somali diaspora).

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

Norway led the Security Council's work on Somalia during its 2001 to 2002 term (Norad, 2020). From 2006 it co-chaired the International Contact Group on Somalia with the United States (ReliefWeb, 2008).

Norway hosts the yearly Oslo Forum on mediation. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud spoke there in June 2024 (Garowe Online, June 2024). Norway is a Paris Club creditor and took part in Somalia's 2020 Paris Club debt deal (Paris Club, 31 March 2020).

Related pages

• Norway (Somali diaspora)
• Foreign forces in Somalia
• International bodies in Somalia
• Federal Government of Somalia
• Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
• Abdirahman Duale Beyle

Sources

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