News

The EUAA has just published a Country of Origin Information (COI) report on Somalia focusing on the security situation, together with a report on displacement in Mogadishu. The first report provides a comprehensive overview of the conflicts stemming from the country’s highly volatile and regionally fractured political settlement, while the thematic report on Mogadishu focuses on the predicament of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country’s capital.

The report on the security situation provides an overview of the renewed cycle of political violence experienced in the country between 1 April 2025 – 30 March 2026, highlighting conflict trends and dynamics at both country and regional levels. Compared to the three years prior, Somalia saw a peak number of fatalities and security incidents. While the Al-Shabaab – Anti-Al-Shabaab conflict in the south-central part of the country, remained the underlying cause of most of the registered political violence (62 % of security incidents), the fight against the Islamic State in Somalia in the north of the country (Puntland) accounted for another 15 %, and clan rivalries, more spread out across the country, for another 11 %.

At the same time, with over 1.1 million internally displaced persons, Mogadishu continued to represent the biggest displacement hub in Somalia, but was also the site of the most evictions taking place at country level, with over 150 000 in just the year 2025. The thematic report on displacement in Mogadishu provides a detailed overview of life in – and management of – camps where internally displaced persons (IDPs) reside, including on access to their basic rights, while it also addresses the situation of people affected by widespread evictions.

The report finds that displacement issues intersect with marginalisation, minority, and gender issues and aims to explain the predicaments faced by minority clans, minority groups, and racialised minorities, which represent the vast majority of IDPs in the capital. This same population segment is overrepresented in Mogadishu’s prison establishments, whose conditions are thoroughly investigated, and struggles to access ID documents which are crucial to integrate in the local context.

EU asylum situation for Somali nationals

Between April 2025 and March 2026, Somalis lodged 21 000 asylum applications in EU+ countries, slightly more than the previous 12-month period. Overall, more than one fifth of applications were lodged in Germany (4 500), followed by France (3 800), Ireland (2 300) and Switzerland (2 100). The recognition rate for Somali applicants fluctuated at around 50 %. At the end of March 2026, close to 13 000 Somali applications were awaiting a decision at first instance, a fifth less compared to April 2025 and the lowest number since August 2021.