KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Somalia President has appointed a close aide as ambassador to Turkey. Abdullahi Mohamed Ali also commonly known as Sambalolshe is a close ally of Somalia President President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
On Monday 14th September 2015, Abdullahi Mohamed Ali who is a former Chief of the Somali Intelligence agency presented his appointment letter and credentials to the Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan.
The Ceremony was held at the Presidential palace in Ankara.
ASSESSMENT
Somalia-Turkey seems to be strengthening their bond. Turkey interests in Somalia are growing fast. Several Turkish firms in the few months have been awarded mega projects worth millions of dollars by the Somalia government.
For instance, SMK Group has been awarded a tender contract to refurbish Conoco airstrip at a cost of $6million while another Turkish construction firm, Albayrak Group , signed a contract to modernize and run Mogadishu port for 20 years.
Turkey formally reproached Somalia during the Istanbul Conference in May 21-23 of 2010 as part of Djibouti agreement and long political transition process that began back in 2004.
Then came Turkey’s turning point in warming up towards Somalia relations. The Turkish commitment towards bonding with Somalia was witnessed when Erdogan visited the war-torn country in the summer of 2011, during the holy month of Ramadan.
His visit was significant in that it coincided with grand opening of a humanitarian aid channel aimed to help thousands of Somali people hit hard by civil war and starvation from long famine crisis.
SUMMARY
Turkey has continued offering support to Somalia. For example for the past four years, Turkey has proved that pure human capital can be a better policy instrument than lending programs, aid donations, business deals, and diplomatic summits.
Turkish firms have seen deep interests in doing business with Somalia and the new diplomatic mission to Turkey is just another bold step towards bolstering bilateral links between the two countries in the future.
