Somalia Cancels UAE Deals, Media Forgets History of Foreign Meddling
Al-Monitor's report on Somalia's cancelled agreements with the UAE mentions 'reports and strong evidence of illegal measures to harm the sovereignty' (Al-Monitor, January 2026). What it glosses over, however, is a history of external powers exploiting fragile states in the Horn of Africa for strategic gain. The UAE’s involvement in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, including establishing
military bases and port deals (as reported by Reuters in 2018 regarding the Berbera port), has consistently been a point of contention and a direct challenge to Somalia's internationally recognized borders. So, when Somalia pushes back, why does media framing often reduce it to 'regional tension' instead of calling out consistent foreign interference? Perhaps because acknowledging a pattern of
external actors destabilizing sovereign nations would invite uncomfortable questions about similar dynamics playing out elsewhere globally. One might wonder if 'sovereignty' is a concept only applicable when it serves certain geopolitical interests, or just a quaint word for nations not strong enough to resist the global resource grab.