Somalia–Yemen relations

Relations between the modern-day territories of Somalia and Yemen stretch back to antiquity. A number of both Yemeni and Somali clans trace descent to the latter region.[1] The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, among other documents, also reports early commercial exchanges between traders inhabiting city-states on the northern Somalia littoral with Himyarite and Sabaean merchants.[2] Numerous artefacts dating from this period have been uncovered in Somalia, such as at the Damo site in the northeastern Puntland region.[3] In the Middle Ages, the Somali Sultanates often recruited troops from Yemen's Hadhramaut region.[4] During the medieval period, disgruntled Yemenis from the Hadhrami wars additionally sought and received asylum in Somali Kingdoms like Ajuran Empire and Adal Sultanate.[5][6]

Relationships between Somalis and Yemenis in medieval periods differed from the coastal Somalis who had good trade relations with Yemenis, and the interior Somalis who viewed Arabs in general in a negative light. Some western travellers reported on these accounts a follows:

In their persons the Somalis are neither Negroes nor Arabs. They have woolly hair, drawn out into points, in every direction, but their noses are not flat. They are finely limbed, with a very dark skin, and beautifully white teeth. The expression of their countenance is neither fierce, nor unpleasing. I consulted several of the respectable merchants of Aden and Mocha, respecting the possibility of penetrating into the interior of Africa, by the caravans, which return from Berbera, and they uniformly agreed that, by securing the friendship of one of the Somali chiefs, and learning the language, a European might, in his own character, make the journey in safety. It would certainly however be more wise that he should pass for a Muslim, but not for an Arab, a nation whom they detest.

Yemen in turn unconditionally opened its borders to Somali nationals following the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s.[7]

Over the ensuing interim period, the Yemeni authorities maintained relations with Somalia's newly established Transitional National Government and its successor the Transitional Federal Government. In September 2012, at a mini-summit on Somalia held during the 67th session of the UN General Assembly, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, on behalf of President of Yemen Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, welcomed the Somali government's completion of its scheduled shift from a transitional administration to a permanent one and urged the international community to continue its support for the ongoing post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Somalia.[8]

The Federal Government of Somalia was later established on August 20, 2012,[9] representing the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the conflict.[9] The following month, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected as the new government's first President. The election was welcomed by the Yemeni authorities, who re-affirmed Yemen's continued support for Somalia's government, its territorial integrity and sovereignty.[10] During the Houthi insurgency in 2015 in Yemen, Foreign Minister of Somalia Abdisalam Omer likewise reiterated his administration's support for the legitimacy of Yemen's incumbent government led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.[11]