Somalia.

Somalia's foreign policy is heavily shaped by state-building imperatives and the need for international security and financial support. The federal government relies on the UN, AU, and bilateral partners (particularly Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, and the US) for security assistance, development aid, and governance capacity building. Turkey has emerged as a uniquely significant partner, operating its largest overseas military base in Mogadishu and investing heavily in infrastructure, healthcare, and education.

Relations with neighboring Kenya are complicated by the al-Shabaab threat, Somali refugee flows, and the maritime boundary dispute resolved by the ICJ in 2021 largely in Somalia's favor. The Ethiopia-Somaliland MOU controversy in 2024, in which Ethiopia sought Red Sea access through Somaliland port recognition, created a major diplomatic crisis and pushed Somalia closer to Egypt and Eritrea as a counterbalance to Ethiopian influence.