The existence of a southward-flowing current beneath the northern part of the seasonally reversing Somali Current is documented in a 2 1/2 -year-long time series of currents obtained at moored stations near 5¿N about 30 km off the somali coast. Its mean annual transport in the layer 150-600 m amounts to about 5¿106 m3/s. The undercurrent has a pronounced seasonal cycle in phase with the near surface flow, suggesting a close coupling to the monosoonal wind forcing. With the spin-up of the deep-reaching northern Somali gyre after the onset of the southwest monsoon, the undercurrent is temporarily destroyed in the northern Somali Basin during June/July but is re-established in August. The undercurrent does not reach 3¿N but turns offshore north of that latitude.