Moreover, Somalia on 15th December 2020, severed diplomatic ties with Kenya and accusing it of meddling in its internal political affairs weeks before a crucial general election. Somalia have recalled its diplomats from Kenya and asked Kenyan diplomats to levae the country in seven days.
Somalian opposition recently revealed that it has written to Turkey’s ambassador in Somalia urging it not to send a planned shipment of weapons (between 16 December and 18 December) to a special police unit, Harma’ad, between they fear incumbent President Mohamed could use to “hijack” forthcoming elections. Political tensions have been high in the Horn of Africa country since there had been a delay in holding the elections for both chambers of parliament.
Turkey has been providing training to the police unit, building, schools hospitals and infrastructure projects and provide scholars for Somalis to study in Turkey. Three years ago, Turkey opened its biggest overseas military base in Somalia to have military leverage in hotspots in the region. Apart from its forward-basing, Ankara also trains Turkish-speaking Somali soldiers and has transferred tactical arms to the arsenal of the Somali military. For Turkey, in the last decade Somalia’s most visible and dedicated development and humanitarian partner, the game is about not losing its primacy before the oil concessions are divided. Of course, the protection of maritime trade routes is another vital strategic gain.
It will be difficult for Ankara to be seen as neutral in Somali general elections while Somali President Mohamed adopted a strategy of “all or nothing” to consolidate power. If violence would be broken in Somali during the elections, it would create undesirable consequences for Turkey in Somalia. But it is also clear that Turkey wants to access cheap energy resources and Somalian gas resources offer promising rewards. However, Turkey’s biggest obstacle is not political instability in Somalia but also fragile Turkish economy.
