(SONNA) The blue flag with the white star has flown outside the United Nations for decades, but in January 2026 it will carry a different weight. Somalia will take the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, a moment that would have felt unimaginable not so long ago.
For a country that spent 34 years defined in headlines by civil war, terrorism, and state collapse, this is not just a diplomatic rotation on a calendar. It is a signal. Somalia is back in the room where the world’s hardest security decisions are debated. And it did not arrive there by accident.
The presidency of the Security Council is procedural by design. Every elected member takes a turn. But symbolism matters in international politics, and for Somalia, symbolism carries real weight. This is the same country that, in the early 1990s, lost its central government and became shorthand for chaos. The same country where generations grew up knowing checkpoints instead of polling stations. Now, it will chair meetings, set agendas, and speak with authority on peace and security issues that once defined its own suffering.
It is also a quiet acknowledgment of progress that many outside observers have been slow to notice.
Inside Somalia, change is no longer theoretical. It is visible. Streets that were once deserted after sunset are now alive late into the night. Markets are open. Construction cranes dot skylines that had been frozen for decades. Families are moving freely in neighborhoods once written off as no-go zones. This is what recovery looks like when it starts to take root.
Nowhere is that shift clearer than in Mogadishu.
For the first time since independence, the capital is preparing to elect its own city council. That sentence alone carries historical weight. Mogadishu has lived under appointed administrations for generations, shaped by conflict and security emergencies. On December 25, 2025, its residents are expected to choose their local leaders through the ballot box. It is a local election, yes, but also a deeply symbolic one. A city reclaiming civic life after decades of survival mode.
Ask residents what that means, and the answers are not abstract. It means accountability. It means trash collection, street lighting, zoning, and basic services decided by people who answer to voters, not gunmen. It means the idea of citizenship becoming practical again.
This political momentum is unfolding alongside economic shifts that could redefine Somalia’s future.
In 2026, Somalia is expected to begin offshore oil drilling. For years, hydrocarbons were discussed as a distant possibility, tangled in legal disputes and insecurity. Now, exploration is moving toward production. The stakes are enormous. Managed well, oil revenues could fund infrastructure, education, healthcare, and long-delayed social services. Managed poorly, they could deepen inequality and political tension. Somalis understand this risk better than most. The debate inside the country is no longer whether oil exists, but how it should be governed.
What is different today is capacity. Institutions that barely functioned a decade ago now exist, operate, and increasingly coordinate. Financial systems are under tighter oversight. Public sector reforms are slow, but real. The federal government has expanded its reach, not perfectly, but measurably. Security forces, with international support, have pushed back extremist groups and reclaimed territory that was once considered lost.
Peace, for the first time in a generation, feels ordinary enough to be taken for granted. That may be the most telling sign of all.
Somalia’s upcoming presidency of the Security Council will not erase its challenges. Terrorism has not vanished. Political disputes remain sharp. Poverty is still widespread. But leadership is not about perfection. It is about trajectory.
January 2026 places Somalia in a position to speak not only as a country emerging from conflict, but as one with lived experience. Few nations understand state collapse, recovery, and resilience as intimately. That perspective matters in a world grappling with fragile states, protracted wars, and post-conflict rebuilding.
For Somalis watching this moment unfold, the significance is deeply personal. Many remember a time when the country had no seat at the table at all. Now, it will hold the gavel.
History does not turn in a single month. But sometimes, it pauses long enough to let a country catch its breath and say, quietly but firmly, we are still here.
Source: SONNA
