The Federal Government of Somalia has offered the United States the right to take over the administration of the ports of Berbera, Mogadishu and Kismayo, as it seeks to block the recognition of Somaliland.
Somali State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ali Mohamed Omar ‘Ali Balcad’, in an interview on the One on One program on TRT World, confirmed that they have offered the use of these ports to the United States.
According to Minister Ali Balcad, the Somali government has asked the United States to renew an agreement reached between Somalia and the United States in the 1980s, which allowed Washington to use these ports and the military airport in the city of Berbera.
“We have now asked the United States to renew that agreement regarding the use of the three ports, if they need others, they can use them. It is a tactic by which we want to get closer to the United States, because the United States is important in our fight against Al-Shabaab, and we need its support very much, and now it supports us,” said Ali Balcad.
US media recently reported that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud sent a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting that Washington take over the administration of the ports and airports of Berbera and Bosaso, in exchange for not recognizing Somaliland.
However, despite the promise made by the Somali government to the US, it does not control the administration of the ports of Berbera and Kismayo mentioned by Minister Ali Balcad.
Berbera is in Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago, while Kismayo is in Jubbaland, which has poor relations with the central government.
The United States has yet to respond to Somalia’s request, and J. Peter Pham, a former U.S. envoy to Africa and a close confidant of Trump, said that Somalia had offered ports but failed to manage them, which he described as a “disgrace to the American people.”
Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi ‘Cirro’, in an interview with The New York Times, described Trump as a man who can be negotiated with and has a business mind, saying Trump’s re-election is Somaliland’s biggest opportunity. The statement was interpreted as a sign that Somaliland was ready to provide the United States with a military base in exchange for official recognition.
