Why is Qatar Present in Somalia?

Facts suggest that Qatar seeks to control Somalia because it is one of the important States in the Horn of Africa. It is characterized by its strategic location in this region which has a direct effect on the global trade movement because it overlooks many international waterways, such as the Indian Ocean, Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Qatari intervention in Somalia started shortly after the fall of Siad Barre’s regime in an attempt to control the country. Recently, suspicious roles for Qatar appeared in that failed State, in an attempt to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa region. This is proved by what have been circulated regarding accusing Qatar of funding al-Shabab group, through the top Qatari terrorist financer, Abdul-Rahman al-Nuaimi, who is accused of sending $250,000 to al-Shabab in 2012, according to the US Treasury report.

Furthermore, leaked documents that appeared on WikiLeaks noted that the former US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, had asked Turkey in 2009 to pressure Qatar to stop funding al-Shabab. According to the document, Rice said that the funding was conducted by transferring money to Somalia through Eretria. The same accusation was echoed by Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the then-president of the Transitional Government, who said in a meeting with US diplomats in Libya that Qatar’s government provides financial support to al-Shabab group.

Qatar’s subversive roles didn’t stop at supporting and financing al-Shabab, but they moved further to the attempt of creating more terrorist movements in Somalia. The Somali SunaTimes revealed in January 2018 that a secret meeting was held in Turkey with the participation of Qatari and Iranian intelligence officers, representatives of Hezbollah, and Fahad Yasin, the chief of staff of Somalia Presidential Palace, who is known to be close to the Qatari regime and the Muslim Brotherhood’s god father, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to create a terrorist group in Somalia.

The Somali newspaper said that foreign intelligence agencies detected that meeting and informed foreign diplomats of the details of the meeting, during which Fahad Yasin was tasked with “political destabilization” of local governments in some Somali provinces that oppose the Qatari regime.