Somalia and South Africa

How do Somalia and South Africa relate today?

South Africa established formal diplomatic relations with Somalia in 2012 (South African High Commission, Nairobi). South Africa covers Somalia from its High Commission in Nairobi, while Somalia has an embassy in Pretoria (same source).

On 3 July 2025 Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali opened a new embassy building in Pretoria, owned by Somalia (SONNA, 3 July 2025). The next day he and South Africa's minister, Ronald Lamola, discussed visa waivers for diplomats and the reopening of South Africa's mission in Mogadishu (Somali Foreign Ministry, 4 July 2025).

The two ministers met again in Pretoria on 3 February 2026 and at the AU Executive Council in July 2026 (Somali Foreign Ministry, 3 February 2026; Somali Foreign Ministry, 29 July 2026). Lamola restated South Africa's support for Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity (same sources).

When did contact begin?

Somalia's foreign ministry says Somalia supported South Africans in their struggle against apartheid (Garowe Online, 14 July 2021). In February 1993 Oliver Tambo spoke of Somalia's "regression" into clan war at a solidarity conference in Johannesburg (DIRCO, Deputy Minister Marius Fransman, 19 September 2012).

Somali refugees began arriving after apartheid ended. UNHCR counted 96 Somali refugees in South Africa in 1994 and 4,810 in 2000 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder API).

In March 2012 South Africa still had no representation in Somalia and dealt with it through Nairobi (DIRCO, parliamentary reply, March 2012). It had sent the Transitional Federal Government a draft agreement on diplomatic relations and planned to sign it during a visit by Somalia's foreign minister (same source). The agreement was signed in Pretoria by Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Abdullahi Haji Hassan (South African High Commission, Nairobi).

Who are the ambassadors and envoys?

South Africa's envoys to Somalia

• South African High Commission in Nairobi: accredited to Somalia (DIRCO).
• M. J. Mahlangu: High Commissioner to Kenya; presented credentials as non-resident ambassador to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at Villa Somalia in October 2022 (same source). DIRCO says security had made it hard for earlier high commissioners to present credentials (same source).

Somalia's envoys to South Africa

• Sheikh Sharif: addressed as Somalia's ambassador-designate at a DIRCO workshop in Cape Town on 19 September 2012 (DIRCO, 2012).
• Mohamed Sheikh Isaaq (Isxaaq): ambassador at the embassy's opening in July 2025 and at the February 2026 talks (SONNA, 2025; Somali Foreign Ministry, 2026).
• Ismail Abdulle Soomane: deputy ambassador and chargé d'affaires a.i. in April 2026 (Somali Foreign Ministry, 30 April 2026).

Who built the tie?

• Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Abdullahi Haji Hassan: foreign ministers who signed the 2012 agreement establishing diplomatic relations (DIRCO).
• Marius Fransman: deputy minister who opened South Africa's first workshop with the Somali diaspora and the peace group ACCORD in September 2012 (DIRCO, 2012).
• Jamal Barrow: Somali deputy foreign minister who opened South Africa's training course for 25 senior Somali diplomats in March 2013 (DIRCO).
• Ronald Lamola: South African minister of international relations who met Somali ministers in 2025 and 2026 (Somali Foreign Ministry, 2025).
• Abdisalam Abdi Ali: Somali foreign minister who opened the Pretoria embassy building in 2025 (SONNA).
• Hassan Mohamed Ali (Nadara): Somali deputy foreign minister who visited the Somali community in Johannesburg in April 2026 (Somali Foreign Ministry, 30 April 2026).
• Somali Association of South Africa: lead applicant in the 2014 court case that upheld refugees' right to run shops (SAFLII, [2014] ZASCA 143).
• Mhlekwa Nxumalo: led a South African business delegation to Somaliland in December 2020 (Somaliland Chronicle, 21 December 2020).

What agreements have they signed?

• 2012: agreement establishing diplomatic relations, signed in Pretoria (DIRCO).
• September 2023: Bilateral Agreement on General Cooperation, signed by the two foreign ministers at the UN General Assembly (same source).
• 2025: the ministers discussed memoranda and visa waivers for diplomatic and service passports (Somali Foreign Ministry, 4 July 2025).

Which leaders have visited?

• February 2005: Somaliland's president Dahir Riyale Kahin visited South Africa to meet business, political and religious leaders (UNPO, 8 February 2005).
• 2012: Somalia's foreign minister Abdullahi Haji Hassan in Pretoria (DIRCO).
• October 2022: High Commissioner Mahlangu in Mogadishu (same source).
• 3–4 July 2025: Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali in Pretoria (SONNA).
• 3 February 2026: Abdisalam Abdi Ali in Pretoria (Somali Foreign Ministry).
• April 2026: Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Mohamed Ali in Johannesburg (Somali Foreign Ministry).

How much do they trade?

South Africa reported exports to Somalia of $9.24 million in 2024, $13.39 million in 2023 and $12.99 million in 2018 (UN Comtrade, South Africa–Somalia, 2024; 2023; 2018). Imports from Somalia were $219,106 in 2024 (same source).

Main South African exports to Somalia in 2024 (UN Comtrade, by chapter):

• fruit and nuts, $2.51 million
• machinery, $0.84 million
• meat, $0.71 million
• iron and steel goods, $0.54 million

Somalis in South Africa run many small township grocery shops. In a 2012 study of Delft South in Cape Town, 80% of the foreign shopkeepers were Somali (Charman and Piper, 2012). See Somali shops in South Africa.

How much aid and money has gone in?

In 2012 South Africa committed R100 million to help the Transitional Federal Government build institutions (DIRCO). In March 2013 it trained 25 senior Somali diplomats (same source).

UN OCHA records these South African humanitarian grants for Somalia (OCHA Financial Tracking Service):

• 2007: $53,606
• 2009: $192,802
• 2011: $1,169,590
• 2012: $198,903
• 2015: $473,530
• 2018: $584,307

What about security?

South Africa has not sent troops to the AU missions in Somalia (Dawan Africa, 1 August 2026). In 2012 it said "a political solution is the only option" and that political negotiations, not military intervention, would bring lasting peace (DIRCO, March 2012). See Foreign forces in Somalia.

How does South Africa deal with Somaliland and the member states?

South Africa told its parliament in 2012 that it recognises Somalia as a sovereign state (DIRCO, March 2012). Somaliland's president Dahir Riyale Kahin visited South Africa in February 2005 (UNPO, 2005).

In December 2020 a South African delegation with business people visited Hargeisa and met the president (Somaliland Chronicle, 21 December 2020). Its leader, Mhlekwa Nxumalo, said recognition would need South Africa to "formally make a decision as a country" (same source). In 2025 and 2026 Lamola backed Somalia's unity and territorial integrity (Somali Foreign Ministry, 2025).

Have there been disputes?

Attacks on Somali shopkeepers have strained ties. Each side's position is set out below.

• September 2017: South Africa's migration committee, chaired by Minister Jeff Radebe, rejected claims by the Somali Community Board that Somalis were being killed every second day in Cape Town (South African Government, 4 September 2017). "The discourse of Somalian isolation to crime is incorrect," Radebe said (same source).
• July 2021: during unrest after Jacob Zuma's jailing, Somalia said four of its nationals had been killed and asked South Africa to protect them (Garowe Online, 14 July 2021). Its foreign ministry said relations would not be harmed (same source).
• June 2026: more than 20 Somalis left Potchefstroom after at least 15 Somali shops were looted during anti-immigration protests (TimesLIVE, 25 June 2026). Somalia's embassy urged calm and said no new South African policy targeted Somalis (AllAfrica, 30 June 2026).

How many Somalis live in South Africa?

At the end of 2025 UNHCR counted 17,931 Somali refugees and 3,905 asylum seekers in South Africa (UNHCR API). See Somalis in South Africa.

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

South Africa's minister attended the London Conference on Somalia on 23 February 2012 and called for "an inclusive Somali owned peace process" (DIRCO, March 2012). In 2012 it said it was exploring help for Somali ministries in governance, constitution-building and the judiciary (same source). DIRCO says the two countries work together in the UN and the AU, and through IGAD and SADC (DIRCO).

Related pages

• Somalis in South Africa
• Somali shops in South Africa
• Migration routes
• Somalia and Tanzania
• Somalia and the African Union
• Dahir Riyale Kahin
• Hassan Sheikh Mohamud