page_title: Somalia–United Arab Emirates relations
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Somalia–United Arab Emirates relations / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia Abdirahman Duale Beyle meeting with the UAE Ambassador to Somalia Mohamed Al Osmani in Mogadishu.
context_page_description: Somalia–United Arab Emirates relations are bilateral relations between Somalia and the United Arab Emirates. Both nations are Arab League members and engage in close development cooperation. Somalia also has an embassy in Abu Dhabi, and the UAE maintains an embassy in Mogadishu.
context_section_description: Relations between the territories of present-day Somalia and the United Arab Emirates stretch back to antiquity. The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, among other documents, reports early commercial exchanges between traders inhabiting city-states on the northern Somalia littoral with Himyarite and Sabaean merchants, who controlled much of the Arabian peninsula. During the Middle Ages and early modern period, the various Somali Sultanates also maintained close relations with other kingdoms across the Red Sea.
  After the start of the civil war in Somalia in 1991, the UAE maintained diplomatic relations with the Somali Transitional National Government and its successor the Transitional Federal Government, and supported their government initiatives. The UAE has also officially supported the Puntland Maritime Police Force since the military body's formation in 2010.
  The subsequent establishment of the Federal Government of Somalia in August 2012 was welcomed by the Emirati authorities, who re-affirmed the UAE's continued support for Somalia's government, its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
  In May 2019, a U.S. senator blamed the UAE for fostering conflict in Somalia, in particularly by nurturing animosity between Somalia's regional states (such as Jubaland, Puntland) and the central government, particularly by signing separate economic deals, such as coastal ports. DP World operates the Port of Berbera in Somaliland. The UAE has announced intentions to open a military base in Somaliland.
caption: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia Abdirahman Duale Beyle meeting with the UAE Ambassador to Somalia Mohamed Al-Osmani in Mogadishu.
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