Sharmake: We didn’t sign military, trade deals with UAE

MOGADISHU – Somalia’s former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake dismissed claims that his government signed secret trade deals with the United Arab Emirates allowing the Gulf state to run the northwestern port of Berbera.

Sharmake’s denial comes just days after the UAE’s State Minister for Foregin Affairs Anwar Gargash told the BBC Arabic Service that his country’s well-publicized military and trade deals with Somali politicians from the northeastern region were the result of “understandings” with previous Somali governments.

“The understanding (between us and previous Somali governments) was clear. The political understanding was to support a united Somalia,” Gargash said. “We don’t have a consulate in Somaliland, nor do we have an embassy there.” The northwestern region calls itself Somaliland, a designation that is not recognized by the international community.

in his interview with the VOA Somali Service, Sharmake flatly rejected Gargash’s claims.

“We didn’t at all enter into any agreement with the government of (United Arab) Emirates during the two years that we had been in office,” said Sharmake, who served between 2014 and 2017.

He said he couldn’t comment on what other administrations did during their terms, but emphasized that his government cut no “military or trade” deals with the UAE to run Somali ports, such as Berbera and Bossaso.

“There was no understanding or agreement we entered into on that issue,” Sharmake said.

His boss, former Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has also denied that Mogadishu signed any trade or military deals allowing the Gulf state to run the port of Berbera and establish a military base there.

“We don’t have any knowledge of it. Nor are we aware of it,” he told Bulsho TV. “ No official party, be it the Somaliland administration or the government of (the United Arab) Emirates, has officially contacted us, talked with us about this issue. The Berbera port is a Somali port.”

The United Arab Emirates’ unilateral agreements have sparked a bitter diplomatic tension between Abu Dhabi and Mogadishu.

Somalia’s national government rejected the deals as violation of its sovereignty, while the United Arab Emirates still maintains that they’re binding.

The Somali parliament has also last month invalidated the deals and barred the UAE’s DP world from operating in the Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia was particularly angered when the port of Berbera deal allowed Ethiopia to control a 19 percent stake, while DP World got a 51 per cent stake. Somalia had only a 30 percent share.

Last month, Somalia took its protest to the United Nation Security Council, asking the world body to take action against the Emirates for violating its sovereignty.

The Somali move irked Abu Dhabi, which is now said to be preparing for a possible downgrade of its ties with the national government in Mogadishu.