Somalian Opposition Urges Turkey to Postpone Shipments untill after Elections

According to Al-Monitor, the opposition party called on Turkey to postpone a planned shipment of weapons to Somalian police units, fearing that President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo could use them to challenge the election results.

The candidates of the opposing party said, "They learned that Turkey was going to deliver 1,000 G3 assault rifles and 150,000 rounds of ammunition to the Somalian police’s Harma’ad unit between Dec.16 and Dec.18."

The candidates continued that "There is no doubt the same Harma’ad forces and the weapons from Turkey will be used to challenge the upcoming elections, as they did before."

The presidential election that was initially scheduled for December was postponed to February due to a disagreement surrounding the composition of the country’s electoral board.

On the day of the protests, Turkey’s ambassador to Somalia, Ahmet Yilmaz, welcomed the board members at the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu. He tweeted his picture with them, saying that they informed him about the preparations for the election. The tweet further fueled the anger of the opposition.

The opposition candidates expressed their frustration with such visit, saying that "The Turkish ambassador should take a neutral stance in the Somali elections."

The candidates also complained that the Turkish position contrasts with the position of Somalia's International Partners, a multinational platform to support Somalia that includes Turkey along with European countries.

A Twitter user named Dr Aweys Sufi tweeted that "Turkey should not be trapped in Somalia’s clan politics. Stay away from it and retain your neutrality."

The election board’s visit to the Turkish Embassy has been widely seen as a vague move. “The opposition sees the board as a body designed by the president to rig the elections."

Also, a journalist who preferred to stay anonymous said that "The opposition believes that the board is composed of intelligence officers and Twitter fans of the president."

Moreover, there are also claims that a police unit trained by Turkey used live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators in the Dec.15 protests. Four protesters were wounded.

The anonymous journalist added, “This allegation has not been confirmed independently, but what is confirmed is that the president used the same unit against one of his rivals in the Gedo region in southern Somalia early this year."

Some also believe the power struggle between Turkey and the UAE over Somalia poses risks to the nation's social harmony.

The Somalian government and its partners like Turkey need to avoid any political or tribal error.”