Ethiopia and Somalia are historical enemies. When Qaddafi developed an alliance with Ethiopia’s Mengistu in the mid-1970s, this angered Somalia’s President Siad Barre. Somalia broke relations with Libya in 1981 and did not restore them until 1985. Libya has maintained an official diplomatic presence in Mogadishu since the fall of Siad Barre in 1991 and collapse of Somalia, one of only two countries, the other being Sudan, to keep diplomatic staff without interruption in such a dangerous environment.

During the mid-1990s, Somali faction leaders collected thousands of frequent flyer miles as they visited Tripoli in an effort to convince Gaddafi to support them. Mohammed Farah Aideed reportedly negotiated with Libya for military aid. In 1998, the Libyan charge d’affaires in Mogadishu announced an $800,000 grant to the local administration in the greater Mogadishu area and another $250,000 for the political reconciliation conference in Baidoa.

In 2001, Libya trained a contingent of Somalis to protect senior Transitional National Government (TNG) officials.  A Libyan team also visited Mogadishu to assess the setting up of a radio and television station for the TNG. The following year, TNG President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan met with Qaddafi in Tripoli. The two leaders signed a cooperation agreement.

Libya agreed to send a team of experts to work on Mogadishu’s  electricity supply and to buy more livestock from Somalia.  Libya said it would take part in Somalia’s reconciliation process and reportedly began supplying arms to the TNG together with Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea. 

In 2006, when the new Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) led by Abdullahi Yusuf tried to reconcile with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), Sudan agreed to host in Khartoum the Arab League countries to advance the Somali peace process. The only countries to send their foreign ministers were Sudan, Djibouti and Libya. 

Due to lack of interest, the Arab League meeting in Khartoum achieved nothing. UIC leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed considered Libya an important player; he visited Libya the same year. The UN Monitoring Group reported that Libya provided aid to the UIC. At the same time, Abdullahi Yusuf continued his communication with Qaddafi and visited Tripoli in 2007.

In 2007, Somali gunmen briefly captured and then released the acting Libyan ambassador and his chief of staff as they were visiting Mogadishu’s main market. The fact they were released so quickly attests to the strong contacts Libya had developed in Mogadishu or the payment of a quick ransom. 

In 2008, CEN-SAD announced that it would provide funds to build roads and bridges in Somalia, although there is no indication that construction has begun. Illegal immigrants from Somalia have encountered the same problem in Libya as their Eritrean counterparts.  Libya jailed some 280 Somali immigrants, but agreed to release 65 of them in 2008 after their relatives paid a hefty fine. Most of them were trying to make their way to Italy.  Somalis continue to flee to Libya in hopes of reaching Europe.  In 2009, Libya sent invitations to the leaders of insurgent groups in Somalia to come to Tripoli where Libya agreed to try to mediate their differences. This initiative did not succeed.

Qaddafi has an interesting approach to Somali piracy. He stated in May 2009 that the activities of pirates along the Somali coast are legal and are meant to defend Somalia’s natural resources. 

He added that Somali pirates cannot be referred to as pirates as they have a responsibility to defend the marine resources of African countries. Somali pirates expressed their appreciation in February 2010 by capturing in the Gulf of Aden the MV Rim, a Libyan-owned cargo ship with 17 Romanian and Libyan crew who were taken hostage.  The vessel was flying the North Korean flag; perhaps the pirates can be excused for their lack of gratitude. 

Former Somaliland President Mohammed Ibrahim Egal made a major effort to cultivate Libya in the hopes of attracting diplomatic recognition for his unrecognized country. Egal visited Libya in 1998; later that year the Libyan charge d’affaires in Mogadishu announced that Libya sees Egal as a “factional leader” and underscored the importance of the unity of Somalia.

In 1999, Egal announced that Libya had agreed to rehabilitate a former cement factory in Berbera, initiate a large maize farming project and build a spaghetti factory. It is not clear what happened to these projects. Egal returned to Libya in 2000 when Qaddafi also invited faction leaders from Somalia, including the then leader of Puntland, Abdullahi Yusuf.  The meeting failed to resolve differences between Somaliland and Puntland. 

By 2007, Gaddafi had apparently tired of trying to reconcile the Somali factions and the leaders of Somaliland and Puntland. He declared that “people want us to wait until Somalia unites and ends its problems. Somalia has split into three or four countries. Uniting Somalia is a challenge and it might not unite.” The answer, he said, is to create his United States of Africa, which will circumvent all of these lesser issues.

Djibouti

Djibouti Libya’s relations with Djibouti have been limited in nature, although Djibouti’s president in 1997 was the first Arab League leader to land in Tripoli in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions against Libya. Libya played a helpful role in 2000 in ending the break in diplomatic relations between Djibouti and Eritrea because Eritrea believed Djibouti was supporting Ethiopia in the aftermath of the 1998 Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict.

In the same year, the presidents of Libya and Djibouti met with Egyptian President Mubarak in Cairo to discuss the Djiboutian president’s peace proposal for Somalia.

In 2002, the Libyan coordinator of the CEN-SAD peacekeeping forces visited Djibouti to discuss bilateral relations between Libya and Djibouti. Later in the year, Libya donated $825,000 worth of rice to Djibouti. In 2003, Qaddafi visited Djibouti where they signed several agreements and emphasized the need for regional cooperation to fight terrorism in the region. 

The Djiboutian president returned the visit the same year to attend the 34th commemoration of the Libyan revolution. Bilateral talks focused on Libyan investment in Djibouti, the fight against terrorism and efforts to create a government in Somalia.  The Libyan foreign minister then came to Djibouti a week later when he visited a maternity hospital built with Libyan assistance. 

In 2007, Libya sent 20 tons of medicine and blankets to Djibouti for Somali refugees living there.Eritrea’s incursion along the Djiboutian border in 2008 presented a dilemma for Libyan policy as it tried to have good relations with both Eritrea and Djibouti.  The situation came to a head early in 2010 when Libya was the only Arab country represented on the UN Security Council (UNSC). 

Djibouti and 13 of the 15 members of the UNSC strongly supported sanctions against Eritrea for its support of extremist groups in Somalia and its aggressive actions along Djibouti’s border.  China abstained while Libya was the only UNSC member to vote against the resolution, infuriating Djibouti.

The Djiboutian foreign minister declared that his country was freezing membership in CEN-SAD and would not attend the March 2010 Arab summit in Tripoli. He said that Djibouti had lodged a formal protest with Libya, adding that the vote was “blatant proof of its backing for Eritrea’s aggression against Djibouti.” The Libyan foreign minister arrived in Djibouti two weeks later in an effort to undo the damage to the relationship. 

Although it is not clear what Libya promised Djibouti, the Djiboutian foreign minister subsequently reversed course, announced that Djibouti would attend the Arab summit in Tripoli in March and that Djibouti has “no problem with Libya’s relations with Eritrea.” 

In July 2010, a senior Libyan official visited Djibouti and invited the government to take part in three upcoming summits in Sirte: the Arab League summit, the Arab League-Africa summit and the Africa-Europe summit. They also discussed the upcoming summit of CEN-SAD in Kampala.  The Djiboutian president subsequently participated in the two summits that took place in Sirte in October 2010.

Conclusion

Libyan interaction with the Horn on the economic level is increasing, but remains surprisingly modest. Most of its economic activity is in Ethiopia with its 81 million people. The 5 million people in Eritrea and less than one million in Djibouti do not offer very attractive economic opportunities. 

The security situation in Somalia is not conducive to economic engagement by any country.  Libya is heavily involved in political affairs in the Horn and tries to maintain strong ties with all countries.  However, Libya can not avoid becoming entangled in the interstate and even internal conflicts that constantly impact the region. 

Libya at one time supported the SPLM against Khartoum and Ethiopia against Somalia, angering Sudan and Somalia in the process.  Ethiopia charged more recently that Libya sided with Eritrea following the Eritrea-Ethiopia border war. 

Djibouti became upset with Libya when it supported Eritrea following the 2008 Eritrea-Djibouti dispute. Although Libya now supports the TFG in Somalia, it is believed to have supported Somali dissident groups in the 1990s. Eritrea is the only country that Libya has not irritated since Eritrea became
independent.

Source: Center for Naval Analyses