Your source’s publication is funded by two countries that don’t want to see a stronger Somali-Turkish relationship, so I will take their claims with a grain of salt. The $2.7 million figure was literally from their first month of managing the port, which the hit-piece above doesn’t even mention or factor in that it was clearly a transitional period. When you look at the annual billion dollar budget the FGS raises around $300 million from domestic sources, and the Port of Mogadishu is one of the Crown Jewels.
However, it is up to the FGS to negotiate the most fair deals, have laws in place that protect workers and enforce them. All of which was done by the previous administration, but I will not deny that a foreigner given the chance will not clutch the opportunity to bribe a corrupt official when the entire HSM administration is behaving the way it does. It simply invites such behaviour.
What Turkish companies do shouldn’t be equated with how good of an ‘ally’ the country of Turkey is, when it has invested billions since 2011 and significantly uplifted Somalia in multiple sectors, not to mention directly intervened when a company behaved in a manner that negatively affected Somali-Turkish relations.
I’m no Turkophile, but considering all of the options, and the history of anti-Somali policies by so many countries, they are by far the best alternative to an actual superpower backing the country. HSM’s administration will only last for another 2 years, but the foundations for an oil industry, a new navy and a blue economy should not be delayed any further.
www.mei.edu
