The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recalled its ambassador to Somalia home following a series of allegations the AU-propped Mogadishu administration directed against the Gulf state in recent days further exacerbating already strained relations between the two.
According to media sources, Ambassador Mohammed Ahmed Othman Al Hammadi, was recalled to report back to the UAE closely after the newly elected president of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo approached the Saudi Kingdom to ask the UAE to halt its plans for a military base in Berbera, the Republic of Somaliland.
The Somalia administration organized and paid for a ‘demonstration’ outside the grounds of the UAE Embassy in London on 3 March to protest the Berbera military base – a development that finally tipped over the smoldering displeasure of the Emirates against Mogadishu .
Mr. Farmajo made his first trip abroad to Riyadh for a mediation bid with the UAE only after he made a lot of noises and threats against the UAE government which has been granted approval of the base by the host country’s bicameral parliament.
Somalia, it was reported, also submitted a complaint to the United Nations on the issue.
On the other hand, the UAE which foots much of the operational costs of the Somalia security forces, had long been unhappy with the Mogadishu administration for preferring Turkey over its interests in the region.
Somalia has granted Turkey the largest military base in Africa supported by the largest embassy in the continent. Turkey has also been given long-term management concessions of Adan Abdulle Osman International airport of Mogadishu and its main seaport. Likewise, Turkey runs a number of high-profile educational and health facilities in Mogadishu all of which, it is said, the UAE bid for and was ‘unfairly’ beaten to it.
Ambassador Al Hammadi manned the UAE Embassy in struggling Somalia since the reign of President Sheikh Sharif and throughout Sheikh Mohamoud’s.
Somalia still foolshly pursues the dream of Somaliweyn (Greater Somalia) despite the fact that Djbouti, Eastern Ethiopia and Norther Frontier District of Kenya (NFD) long chose their own separate paths. Somaliland was part of that dream in the 60s.
