Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday accused the United Arab Emirates of “naked interference” in his country’s internal affairs, throwing his full weight behind a cabinet decision to annul all defense and port agreements with the Gulf state.
In a fiery national address delivered in Mogadishu, Mohamud declared that the federal government had no choice but to void the pacts after Abu Dhabi repeatedly refused to engage with Somalia as a single sovereign entity, preferring instead to bypass Mogadishu and deal directly with regional administrations.
“We entered into relations with the UAE with good intentions and an open heart,” Mohamud told the nation. “Unfortunately, the United Arab Emirates did not treat us as a unified, sovereign government.”
The President’s speech seals a decision ministers reached at a cabinet meeting on Monday to scrap all security cooperation and port deals—specifically targeting agreements in Berbera, Bosaso, and Kismayo.
The move represents the most severe rupture in relations between the two nations since 2018, effectively turning the Horn of Africa into a new front in the Gulf’s widening proxy rivalries.
‘Back doors’
Mohamud’s address offered a rare glimpse into the diplomatic frustrations that have simmered behind closed doors for months.
He alleged that his administration had spent considerable political capital urging Abu Dhabi to respect federal protocols, only for the Emirates to ignore them.
“We asked them many times to stop the naked interference… and to stop entering our country through different doors,” Mohamud said, using a metaphor for the UAE’s direct military and commercial relationships with the breakaway region of Somaliland and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
He accused Emirati actors of conducting operations inside Somalia without the Federal Government’s knowledge, actions he described as “violations of our national dignity.”
While the President framed the decision as a necessary step to protect “national unity,” analysts say the timing is critical.
The annulment comes as Mogadishu seeks to assert centralized control over its borders and coastline—an ambition that directly clashes with the UAE’s strategy of cultivating independent client relationships with coastal states to secure shipping lanes.
The Israel factor
While the official decree cited sovereignty violations, government sources in Mogadishu told Somalia Today that Israel’s decision on December 26, 2025, to recognise Somaliland triggered the collapse in relations.
Intelligence assessments the government reviewed allegedly indicate that the UAE quietly facilitated the normalisation between Hargeisa and Tel Aviv, leveraging its role under the Abraham Accords to draw Israel deeper into the Horn of Africa.
According to those officials, the recognition arrangement would grant Israel logistical access to the UAE-expanded port of Berbera, giving it a strategic foothold on the Red Sea that bypasses Mogadishu entirely.
“The UAE is the elephant in the room,” a senior Somali diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “They are using our land to build a security architecture for themselves and Israel, without our consent.”
In his speech, Mohamud alluded to this, noting that the “world has rejected” Israel’s attempt to divide Somalia, a reference to recent support from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Saudi Arabia.
Yemen spillover
The diplomatic fallout has also exposed the extent to which the war in Yemen has spilled over into Somalia.
Security officials said the cabinet’s decision aims to sever the logistical chain connecting UAE-aligned actors in Somalia with the conflict across the Gulf of Aden.
Regional security analysts have long alleged that the port of Bosaso—base of the UAE-funded Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF)—has served as a transit hub for supplies heading to pro-UAE factions in Yemen and possibly Sudan’s RSF rebels.
An incident last week involving the leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, appears to have triggered the final decision. The Saudi-led coalition accused the UAE of helping al-Zubaidi flee Yemen by boat to Somaliland, before transiting through Somali airspace to the UAE.
On Thursday, Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency (ICA) announced an investigation into the “unauthorized use” of Somali airspace, and subsequently suspended UAE military flights.
“We are seeing the merger of the Yemen and Somalia conflicts,” said Ahmed Abdi, a Mogadishu-based analyst.
“Mogadishu has concluded that the UAE’s network in Berbera and Bosaso is no longer just about development, but about projecting power in ways that destabilise the federal government.”
Regional revolt
However, while the diplomatic rupture appears final in Mogadishu, the federal government faces immediate resistance from the periphery.
Three regional administrations with close ties to the United Arab Emirates—Puntland, Jubaland, and Somaliland—on Monday rejected Mogadishu’s decision, vowing to maintain their independent security and development pacts with the Gulf state.
Puntland led the pushback, stating that the federal cabinet cannot unilaterally cancel agreements operating within a member state without consulting local authorities under Somalia’s federal settlement.
Citing the Provisional Constitution, Puntland argued that existing member states retain powers under their own constitutions until legal harmonisation is completed.
“The decision announced by the federal cabinet to annul the Bosaso port development project agreements and the security cooperation between Puntland and the UAE is null and void,” Puntland said in a statement.
Jubaland issued a parallel rejection, insisting that agreements linked to development and security cooperation—including projects around Kismayo—remain in force and that only the regional administration holds the mandate to revise or terminate them.
Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991 but lacks international recognition, went further, arguing that Mogadishu has no jurisdiction over Berbera and therefore “no legal standing” to affect agreements signed there.
Taken together, the coordinated rejections underscore a familiar fault line in Somali politics: the federal government’s claim to exclusive authority over foreign policy clashing with member states’ insistence on broad autonomy—especially when strategic ports and foreign funding are at stake.
Economic reality check
Despite the tough rhetoric, enforcing the annulment remains a massive challenge.
The UAE has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the expansion of the Berbera port and in funding critical security forces in Puntland. An abrupt exit could leave economic and security voids that Mogadishu is currently ill-equipped to fill.
Addressing these fears, President Mohamud promised that his government would protect citizens from economic fallout.
“I want to clarify to the Somali citizens that this government decision is never intended to cause them harm,” he said. “We will take full responsibility for ensuring people feel… economic and political independence.”
Authorities have not clarified how they intend to physically enforce the ban in Somaliland or Puntland. However, Mogadishu has now drawn the legal and diplomatic lines, signaling a volatile new chapter for the Horn of Africa.
