Somalia and Saudi Arabia

How do Somalia and Saudi Arabia relate today?

Saudi Arabia is one of Somalia's three main export markets, with the UAE and Oman. Live animals are the main export, and sales peak before the Hajj and Eid al-Adha (Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025). Saudi Arabia bought Somali goods worth US$282.6 million in 2023 (WITS, World Bank).

On 9 February 2026 Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi and Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman signed a memorandum on military cooperation in Riyadh (Al Jazeera, 10 February 2026).

The Saudi government reported US$34.8 million of humanitarian funding to Somalia in 2025, the most of any Gulf government (UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service, 2025).

When did contact begin?

Somalia's foreign ministry listed 17 December 1960 as the date relations were established with Saudi Arabia (en.wikipedia.org, Foreign relations of Somalia, citing the Somali MFA list). Somalia joined the Arab League in 1974 (The National, 1 July 2022).

After its defeat in the Ogaden War of 1977–1978, the Siad Barre government aligned its policies more closely with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In the 1980s Somalia depended more and more on aid from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, Relations with Arab Countries). Saudi Arabia supplied much of Somalia's oil as a donor (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study).

In 1990 Somalia sided with the US-led coalition after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Saudi Arabia then offered a US$70 million grant and oil below market prices (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, Relations with Arab Countries).

Somali workers went to Saudi Arabia in large numbers during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s; see Saudi Arabia (Somali diaspora).

After the central government fell in 1991, Saudi Arabia had no diplomats in Somalia, though relations were never cut (en.wikipedia.org, Foreign relations of Somalia).

Who are the ambassadors and envoys?

• Mohamed Abdi-kani Al-Khayat: presented credentials to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on 18 January 2017 as Saudi Arabia's first ambassador to Somalia since the 1990s (Goobjoog, 18 January 2017, via Wikipedia).

No fuller list of ambassadors in either direction was found for this page.

Who built the tie?

• Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi defence minister: signed the February 2026 memorandum and announced it on X (Al Jazeera, 10 February 2026).
• Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, Somali defence minister: signed the same memorandum (Al Jazeera).
• Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somali president: received the first Saudi ambassador since the 1990s in January 2017 (en.wikipedia.org).

What agreements have they signed?

• 9 February 2026: memorandum of understanding on defence and military cooperation, Riyadh. Neither side published the text (Al Jazeera).

Which leaders have visited?

• January 2017: Saudi ambassador Al-Khayat presented credentials in Mogadishu.
• 9 February 2026: Defence Minister Fiqi in Riyadh (Al Jazeera).

How much do they trade?

Saudi imports from Somalia, from World Bank WITS data:

• 2010: US$135.0 million (WITS).
• 2015: US$319.0 million (WITS).
• 2020: US$40.0 million (WITS).
• 2022: US$131.2 million (WITS).
• 2023: US$282.6 million (WITS).

Saudi Arabia was long Somalia's main buyer. In June 1983 it stopped importing Somali cattle, citing rinderpest, and soon extended the ban to sheep and goats; the loss of earnings opened a large budget deficit (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). In 1990 Italy narrowly replaced Saudi Arabia as the leading buyer of Somali goods (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study).

Saudi exports to Somalia are smaller: US$58.1 million in 2019 and US$38.7 million in 2023 (WITS).

Somalia's live animal exports earned US$922.9 million in 2025, most of it from Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE (Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025). For the history of the trade, including Saudi import bans, see Livestock exports.

How much aid and money has gone in?

Saudi government humanitarian funding to Somalia reported to the UN Financial Tracking Service:

• 2011: US$95.2 million, during the famine (FTS, 2011).

• 2012: US$93.4 million (FTS, 2012).

• 2017: US$16.2 million (FTS, 2017).

• 2019: US$11.6 million (FTS, 2019).

• 2022: US$22.4 million (FTS, 2022).

• 2023: US$41.2 million (FTS, 2023).

• 2024: US$37.2 million (FTS, 2024).

• 2025: US$34.8 million (FTS, 2025).

• Loans: by the end of the 1970s Somalia owed Saudi Arabia US$81.9 million (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). At the end of 2025 Somalia owed the Saudi Fund for Development US$117.31 million and paid it US$3.11 million in interest that year (Somali Ministry of Finance, Annual Debt Management Report 2025).

In January 2016 Somalia received a Saudi aid pledge of US$50 million on the same day it cut ties with Iran. The Somali government denied any link (Reuters, 17 January 2016, via Wikipedia).

What about security?

The February 2026 memorandum covers defence and military ties; no details were released (Al Jazeera). For foreign military roles, see Foreign forces in Somalia.

How does Saudi Arabia deal with Somaliland and the member states?

• Livestock ports: for the ports in Somaliland and Puntland that ship animals to Saudi Arabia, see Livestock exports.
• Berbera and Yemen, 2026: the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of Yemen's Southern Transitional Council, left Yemen through Berbera in January 2026. Mogadishu then called it unauthorised use of Somali airspace and airports (Africanews, 13 January 2026).

Have there been disputes?

• Deportations: Saudi Arabia began a campaign against undocumented workers on 4 November 2013. The IOM said Saudi authorities deported 40,779 Somalis to Mogadishu between December 2013 and August 2014 (Human Rights Watch, 10 May 2015).
• Gulf crisis, 2017–2018: Somalia refused Saudi and Emirati pressure to cut ties with Qatar (Al Jazeera, 11 April 2018).

How many Somalis live in Saudi Arabia?

UN DESA estimated 48,099 people born in Somalia living in Saudi Arabia in 2024 (UN DESA, International Migrant Stock 2024). See Saudi Arabia (Somali diaspora).

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

• Arab League: Somalia and Saudi Arabia are both members; Somalia joined in 1974 (The National, 2022).
• Iran, 2016: Somalia cut ties with Iran in January 2016, the same day it received the Saudi aid pledge (Reuters, 17 January 2016, via Wikipedia).

Related pages

• Saudi Arabia (Somali diaspora)
• Livestock exports
• Foreign forces in Somalia
• Aid and humanitarian funding