COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: October 2025
For general guidance on the country guidance approach to actors of persecution or serious harm, see ‘EUAA, 'Actors of persecution or serious harm' in Country Guidance: Explained, February 2025.
The contents of this chapter include:
The individual assessment of international protection needs should take into account the presence and activity of different actors in the applicant’s home area and the situation in the areas the applicant would need to travel through in order to reach their home area.
In Somalia, a wide range of different groups and individuals can be considered as actors of persecution or serious harm. A crucial aspect of the Somali context is that the boundaries of membership for all the groups constantly shift. Most individuals playing a role in the security situation are simultaneously members, to varying degrees, of multiple groups that compete against each other.
The following sections highlight the main actors of persecution and serious harm in Somalia as well as their areas of control/ activity, in a non-exhaustive manner.