Qatar’s ambassador presents credentials to president Mohamed
Although Qatar has a special relationship with the Somali government, it maintained a low-level representation that barely matched its outsize influence in the country.
By The Star Staff Writer
By The Star Staff Writer
MOGADISHU – President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmajo” received credentials from Qatar’s new ambassador to the country on Saturday.
Although Qatar has a special relationship with the Somali government, it maintained a low-level representation that barely matched its outsize influence in the country. Hassan Hamza Asad Hashem, who served as the mission’s chargé d’affaires, was only promoted last month to full ambassador and still operates from a nondescript building in the capital, Mogadishu.
Hashem’s appointment is seen as a bold move by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to deepen his country’s diplomatic bond with the Horn of Africa nation, especially at a time when anti-Doha Gulf states are putting enormous pressure on Mogadishu to sever ties with Qatar.
“The president of the republic has thanked the Qatari Emir and his government for their willingness to strengthen their relationship with Somalia, hoping that this relationship would be beneficial to the interests of both nations,” said a Somali statement from President Mohamed’s office.
Qatar’s new shift comes as tensions between it and its Gulf neighbors – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — spilled over into Somalia, further destabilizing a country that is already grappling with al Qaida-linked militants of al Shabab.
Somalia has refused to take sides in the row between Qatar and the four, Saudi-led Arab states that imposed an air, sea and land blockade on Doha.
But the United Arab Emirates’ military and economic agreements with Somali politicians from the northwestern region have sparked a bitter diplomatic tension between Abu Dhabi and Mogadishu.
The Somali parliament has last month invalidated the deals that allowed the UAE to run the port of Berbera and establish a military base there, a move that irked Abu Dhabi, which is now said to be preparing for a possible downgrade of its ties with the national government in Mogadishu.
Conversely, Doha has in recent months been ramping up its activities across the country.
On Tuesday, Qatar, one of the main donors to Somalia, donated 30 buses and two large cranes to Mogadishu. It also last month opened a model school in Hudur, a town near the Ethiopian border, a measure that would benefit hundreds of Somali students.
In 2017, Qatar Charity said it drilled and rehabilitated 316 artesian and surface wells to provide safe drinking water to as many as 350,000 people in Somalia.
During the ceremony, President Farmajo stressed that he would “provide the ambassador all support to promote bilateral relations between the two countries and closer cooperation in various fields,” said a statement from the Qatari Foreign Ministry.