Somalia gave up Trump’s control
Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud offered his American counterpart Donald Trump.
« Today, amid the evolution of global dynamics, we see a renewed opportunity to deepen this collaboration in a way that serves the interests of both nations and contribute to the security of the Gulf Aden, the Red Sea and the region in general, » Mohamud wrote in the letter, dated March 16.
« For this purpose, Somalia is willing to provide the United States exclusively operating control of the Balidogle (South) and Berbera (North), as well as the ports of Berbera and Bosaso (North), » the head of the Somalian state points out.
Mohamud highlights the fact that ‘these strategically located assets offer the opportunity to strengthen the US commitment in the region, guaranteeing uninterrupted military and logistical access, while preventing external competitors from establishing a presence in this crucial corridor’.
Moreover, Somalia undertakes to « favor stronger economic links with the United States through preferential economic agreements, including the establishment of free exchange zones, » adds the head of the Somalian state in Trump’s letter.
Balidogle is about 90 kilometers from the capital of the country, Mogadiscio, Aries is located in the Somali Somaliland separatist region, with whom the Somalian government maintains a tense relationship, not agreeing with the independence of the region, and Bosaso belongs to the neighboring Semiautonome Puntland region.
Reacting to the letter, the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somaliland, Abdirahman Dahir Adan, said the letter is a desperate and bad attempt by the Somalia State.
‘It is an indication of a corrupt regime at the last breath, employed in a suicide mission and which can do nothing to prevent the future recognition of Somaliland’ as an independent country, the minister added on social networks.
Somaliland is an autonomous region that is part of Somalia, and the unilateral statement of independence of this region is not recognized by any state or international organization.
President Mohamud’s letter was published while Somalia struggles to keep her important separatist regions in the north, against the background of concern that the United States could cease her support for the Somalian state, severely affected by the fight against the Jihadist group Al-Shabab, among other challenges.
Somalia has intensified its military operations against Al-Shabab since Mohamud announced a ‘total war’ against terrorists in August 2022.
Since then, the army, supported by successive missions of the African Union, has carried out offensive against the group, sometimes with the military collaboration of the United States and Turkey to the air attacks.
Al-Shabab, a 2012 affiliated group to the Al-Qaida terrorist network, frequently commits attacks to overturn the central government-supported by the international community-and to set up an Islamic Wahhabit state (ultra-conservative).
Al-Shabab controls rural areas in the center and southern Somalia, but also attacks neighboring countries, such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
Somalia has been in a state of conflict and chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overturned from power, leaving the country without an effective government and in the hands of Islamist militia and warrior despot.
