Bilateral relations between Italy and Somalia have deep historical roots, which translate not only into a dense network of ties and institutional relations, but also into numerous exchanges that take place between their respective civil societies, universities, and private sector bodies. This constantly evolving context sees the Embassy of Italy, which reopened in Mogadishu in 2014 and is still the only European Union Embassy operating in the Somali capital, committed to facilitating and strengthening relations in all areas, developed over a long common history and which even today, despite the break created by the long years of civil war, are drawing strength and intensity from a sincere spirit of fraternal recognition.
Brief history
At the end of World War II, in 1950, the United Nations entrusted the Italian Government with the Trusteeship of Somalia (AFIS), with the aim of gradually leading the former colony to independence by creating its ruling class and democratic system. It was the only case of trusteeship assigned to a defeated nation in World War II. At the end of this period (which ended by Italian decision 6 months before the expiry of the UN mandate), the same Somali political organization that had initially opposed the Italian mandate, the League of Young Somalis (SYL), had radically changed its opinion of Italy and had long since started a relationship of trust and great collaboration with the Italian Administrators.
With the elections of 1959 and the approval of the Constitution, the First Somali Republic was born in July 1960. In 1969, a military coup and assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke marked the rise of General Siad Barre.
Following the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 and the collapse of its institutions, the country plunged into a civil war, despite the substantial homogeneity that characterizes it from an ethnic, linguistic and religious point of view. The conflict led to the dissolution of the central government and the proliferation of regional entities, each with precarious control over small portions of territory, and radical Islamic forces, including first and foremost Al-Shabaab.
A nationalist terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda over time, Al-Shabaab emerged in 2006 within the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and took control of part of the southern regions of Somalia in opposition to the newly established Somali Transitional Federal Government, ensuring partial stability to that area after a decade of conflicts between the so-called Somali Transitional Government. “warlords”. In 2006, after the capture of Mogadishu by the UIC, Ethiopia and the United States intervened in Somalia in support of the transitional government, liberating the capital and marking the end of the experience of the Islamic Courts. Al-Shabaab, however, remains operational to this day.
In order to consolidate the institutions and defensive capabilities of the Somali Security Forces, the African Union established in 2007 the AMISOM Peacekeeping Mission (later reconfigured into ATMIS – African Transition Mission in Somalia), authorized ex post by the UN Security Council, to manage security in the country, operating against Al-Shabaab, and support the national reconciliation process. This process led, in 2012, to the formation of a Somali Federal Government, the first permanent central authority since 1991 and the first step towards the long and complex institutional reconstruction on a federal basis.
The reform of the provisional Constitution of 2012 is still ongoing. This is also due to friction between the government and the federal states (in particular, Jubaland and Puntland), regarding the division of competences between the centre and the periphery and the distribution of resources from the central government to the federal states. The relationship between Somalia and Somaliland, an entity that proclaimed independence in 1991, is particularly delicate.
Political cooperation
Italy has an intense and articulated relationship with Somalia both bilaterally and multilaterally, providing a primary contribution to the country’s stabilization process that involves not only government institutions but also civil societies thanks to the commitment of our NGOs, universities and companies and increasingly the large Somali diaspora in Italy.
A key element of our action in Somalia is cooperation in the security sector. Italy holds the command and is the largest contributor of troops to the training mission of the Somali Armed Forces of the European Union (EUTM). At the bilateral level, the Carabinieri carries out training activities in favor of the Somali police as part of the program (MIADIT). Many Somali military cadres have been trained in Italian military academies, as well as a large part of the Somali leadership has completed their studies at Italian universities or at the Somali National University, still operating in Somalia and which has benefited from one of the most historically important projects of the Italian Cooperation.
The knowledge of our language is still widespread in Somalia, especially among the ruling class.