VP/HR - Turkey set on controlling Somalia

Subject: VP/HR - Turkey set on controlling Somalia

The presence of Turkey in Africa is becoming ever stronger, for economic, political, military and defence reasons.

For years, Turkey has played a key role in the economic and social recovery of Somalia, rebuilding the port and airport of Mogadishu, as well as lighting and tarmacking the city’s roads. Ankara intends to build on and extend the Somalian model as a way to show what Turkey can achieve in other African countries.

It has also opened the largest military training facility there.

Somalia is Turkey’s largest outpost, representing a military satellite capable of raising Ankara’s profile in the security sector and its presence in the Indian Ocean.

Turkey intends to increase its influence by exploiting its cultural and religious links with various, mainly Islamic, African regions. Another point of interest for Turkey is the militarisation of the East African coast, with a view to gaining control of trading routes.

Does the VP/HR intend to take action to prevent Africa, and Somalia in particular, from falling under Ankara’s influence, or even its military control?

Can the VP/HR say how much Turkey has invested in Somalia to date?

Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the European Commission (17 October 2018)

The EU is engaged in Somalia through an integrated approach based on active diplomacy, support for political change, improving security, development assistance and humanitarian aid. For the period 2014-2020, the EU and Member States' cooperation efforts in Somalia including development aid, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations amount to approximately EUR 3.5 billion.

As one of Somalia's key development partners the EU is allocating an amount of EUR 486 million (2014-20), in support notably of state-building and peace-building, food security and building resilience, education and measures in favour of civil society. This support is provided by the 11th European Development Fund National Indicative Programme (EUR 286 million) and the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUR 200 million).

To support Somalia's efforts to become a peaceful, stable and democratic country, while tackling piracy and other international crimes, the EU has three security and defence missions on the ground. The Military Training Mission supports Somali security forces, the EU Naval Force Atalanta fights piracy, and the European Union Capacity building mission in Somalia aims to improve maritime security.

The EU is also one of the main financial contributors to the African Union Mission to Somalia having committed more than EUR 1.5 billion since 2007 from the Africa Peace Facility.

It is essential that all international partners respect and support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Somalia and work on preventing destabilising effects of regional crises and disputes from spilling over into Somalia. This is a point the EU has made in various international fora, including at the recent Somalia Partnership Forum, co-hosted by the EU, in Brussels on 16-17 July 2018.