Somali Armed Forces

Somali Armed Forces
Xoogga Dalka Soomaaliyeed
Emblem of the Somali Armed Forces
Founded12 April 1960
Current formAugust 2008[1]
Service branches Somali National Army[1]
 Somali Navy
 Somali Air Force
HeadquartersMogadishu, Somalia
Leadership
Commander-in-chiefHassan Sheikh Mohamud
Minister of DefenceAbdulkadir Mohamed Nur [2]
Chief of Defence ForceBrigadier General Ibrahim Sheikh Muhyadin Addow
Personnel
Active personnelapx 45,000 (2023)[3]
Industry
Foreign suppliers Turkey
 United States[4][5]
 China[6]
Related articles
History
RanksMilitary ranks of Somalia

The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia.[12] Headed by the president as commander-in-chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.[13]

In 1990 the Armed Forces were made up of the Army, Air Force, Air Defence Force, and Navy.[14] From the early 1960s to 1977, the period when good relations existed between Somalia and the Soviet Union, the Armed Forces had the largest armored and mechanized force in sub-Saharan Africa.[15] Due to Barre's increasing reliance on his own clan, splitting the Armed Forces along clan lines,[16] and the Somali Rebellion, by 1988 they began to disintegrate.[17] By the time President Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in January 1991, the last cohesive army grouping, the 'Red Berets,' had deteriorated into a clan militia.[18]

An unsteady rebuilding process began after 2000, and gained pace after the Djibouti Agreement of 2008. The northeastern region of Puntland maintains its own separate military forces.

  1. ^ a b Robinson 2016, p. 242.
  2. ^ "Somalia's defence minister, military chief, arrive in Beledweyne". 12 July 2023.
  3. ^ Robinson, Colin D. "Rebuilding armies in southern Somalia: What currently should donors realistically aim for?," Conflict, Security & Development (2021): 320, 330-331.
  4. ^ "Trade Registers". Armstrade.sipri.org. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. ^ "United States ordered Acmat Bastion APCs for African partners". defenceweb.co.za. 13 October 2015. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Somalia: China Donates Military Equipment to Somalia to Aid War Against Terrorists". Shabelle Media Network. 19 March 2022.
  7. ^ Richards, Rebecca (24 February 2016). Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-00466-0.
  8. ^ Reinl, James. "Investigating genocide in Somaliland". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  9. ^ Strategic Survey, 1989–1990 (1990), p. 87, International Institute for Strategic Studies
  10. ^ Fitzgerald 2002, p. 57.
  11. ^ Geldenhuys, p.131
  12. ^ ILO 2012.
  13. ^ ILO 2012, p. Chapter 14, Article 126(3).
  14. ^ Metz 1993, p. 204.
  15. ^ Metz 1993, p. 196.
  16. ^ Alex de Waal, “Contemporary Warfare in Africa,” in Restructuring the Global Military Sector Vol. 1: New Wars, ed. Mary Kaldor and Basker Vashee (London: Pinter, 1997).
  17. ^ Compagnon 1992, p. 9.
  18. ^ Robinson 2019b, p. 424.