The eternal troubles of Somalia

The abundance of conflicts on all continents does not allow us to pay attention to the Horn of Africa, where there is a rather serious struggle for an important strategic point. Somalia has long been divided into spheres of influence, where, in addition to regional players, there are leading world powers represented by the United States and China. If Washington builds its policy on totalitarian control justifying its actions by "fighting terror", then China offers peaceful cooperation for the development of the Horn of Africa. But the lion's share of attention is attracted by the intervention of regional allies of the United States, between which there is a fierce competition for influence on Somalia.

 

To begin with, the Turks and the UAE have military bases in the Horn of Africa. Let me remind you that Somalia is divided into unrecognized enclaves, where the most famous are Somaliland, Puntland, the State of the Central Regions of Somalia. The Emirates dominate Somaliland, which allows them to put pressure on Mogadishu. For a long time, the main enemy for the UAE was the former President of Somalia, Muhammad Abdullahi Muhammad (Farmaajo), who tried to pursue an independent policy from the dictates of the Saudi–Emirati union and leaned towards the Turkish-Qatari alliance. A vivid example is 2017, when, as the head of Somalia, Farmaajo refused to join the blockade of Doha in 2017, which later allowed the small Emirate to rely on Muhammad to promote its interests in the Horn of Africa. The refusal of the former President of Somalia to join the aggression against Yemen and recognize the Zionist colony is also the main reasons for Emirati hatred.

 

As for the Turkish expansion, it is directed to all areas of the Horn of Africa, but official Mogadishu is a priority. It was in Somalia that the Turks built the largest military base outside their country in 2017. Ankara also chose Somalia to launch rockets into space, explaining that this African country is “geographically located near the equator and this feature ensures the ease of launching a rocket, as well as its low cost.” In short, Somalia has almost completely become an appendage of Turkish ambitions, which finds an extremely negative response in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. In contrast to the Turks, the Gulf autocracy, together with the Egyptian junta, organized the secret creation of loyal militias on the territory of Somalia. This fact allows us to speculate about the appearance of a “new Libya” on the territory of the Horn of Africa, Somalia is already divided into a number of quasi-states, and in the event of a large-scale war of all against all, the country will finally cease to exist for decades.

 

The endless military bases of American allies throughout the Horn of Africa are designed to prevent Somalia from falling under the influence of China, but the political competition of pro-American satellites and clan strife create conditions for a “time bomb”, which is absolutely not beneficial to the Anglo-Saxon “kings of democracy”.