Somali Armed Forces | |
---|---|
Xoogga Dalka Soomaaliyeed | |
![]() Ceremony commemorating 55th Anniversary of the SNA held at the Army Headquarters on 12th April 2015. | |
Founded | 12 April 1960 |
Current form | August 2008[1] |
Service branches | Army, Navy, Air Force[1] |
Headquarters | Mogadishu, Somalia |
Leadership | |
Commander-in-chief | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud |
Minister of Defence | Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur [2] |
Chief of Defence Force | Brigadier General Ibrahim Sheikh Muhyadin Addow |
Personnel | |
Active personnel | apx 15,000 (2020)[3] Substantial growth after 2022 |
Industry | |
Foreign suppliers | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Related articles | |
History | See list |
Ranks | Military 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, and the Somali Rebellion, by 1988 they began to disintegrate.[16][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.