MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Turkey will move to arrest and exile Somalia’s opposition leaders, including former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, should they persist in their defiance of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s disputed term extension, a veteran Somali diplomat has warned.
Wararka Soomaaliya
Hussein Ali Duale, widely known as Ambassador Awil, made the claim in an interview with Geed Fadhi media, arguing that President Mohamud has ceded sweeping concessions to Ankara — including offshore oil blocks and Somalia’s exclusive economic zone — in exchange for unconditional Turkish backing, whether directed against regional states or opposition politicians.
Duale described Turkey as a state that pursues its own interests without regard for democratic norms, and said Ankara would not hesitate to detain opposition figures who mount serious resistance to Mohamud’s plans. Any such arrests, he said, would be carried out under the pretext that the detainees were undermining Somalia’s security, with those held then exiled under house arrest in Ankara.
His remarks echo accusations opposition figures have leveled at Turkey for months, accusing Ankara of aligning itself fully with President Mohamud in ways they say serve neither Somalia’s interests nor, ultimately, Turkey’s own long-term investment in the country.
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In June, opposition leaders alleged that Turkish-supplied suicide drones and weaponry were used in strikes on compounds housing former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. The two men were reportedly organizing protests against the government’s term extension at the time; the opposition says the compounds were attacked pre-emptively, before any demonstration could take place.
Duale is not the only prominent Somali voice to accuse Ankara of enabling authoritarian rule in Mogadishu while extracting the country’s natural resources. Senator and academic Abdi Ismail Samatar has separately accused Turkey of acting as a “resource pirate” in Somali waters.
“Turkish vessels are prospecting and drilling for oil in Somali waters. This is exceptionally alarming as the entire affair is illegal,” Samatar said, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government are aware that the defense and petroleum agreements underpinning the activity are, in his words, fraudulent.
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Samatar noted that Somalia’s parliament has never been shown the text of either agreement, and argued that Turkey’s decision to proceed with exploration regardless amounts to complicity with what he called “an illegitimate and derelict regime” in Mogadishu.
He further accused Villa Somalia of relying on Turkish military resources to sustain what he described as a corrupt administration whose constitutional mandate expired. “Ankara has found solace in silence, but the Somali people will not forget Türkiye’s great deception,” Samatar said.
Neither the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu nor Villa Somalia has publicly responded to the specific allegations raised by Duale or Samatar. Turkey has previously defended its role in Somalia as one of development partnership, security cooperation and counterterrorism support, and has not commented on claims that it facilitated attacks on opposition figures or entered into undisclosed resource agreements.
Wararka.so waxay kuu soo tebineysaa wararka ugu dambeeyey ee Soomaaliya iyo caalamka. Si aad ula socoto wararkii ugu dambeeyey, booqo boggayaga.
