Doha to continue support for unity, stability in Somalia: Qatari emir

Qatar has pledged to continue support for the stability and sovereignty of Somalia amid heightened tensions between the East African country and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a party to the Saudi-led quartet of Doha’s boycotters

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who held talks Monday with visiting Somali President Mohammad Abdullahi, said the relationship between Doha and Mogadishu were based on “brotherhood and mutual respect

“Qatar will continue to support the unity, stability, sovereignty and well-being of the people of Somalia,” Sheikh Tamim said in a tweet following the meeting

Earlier this month, a Qatari official told Reuters that Doha had provided $385 million in infrastructure, education and humanitarian aid to the Somali government

The Monday meeting, which is the third in less than a year, comes at a particularly sensitive time when Mogadishu abandoned a military deal with Abu Dhabi and seized millions of dollars from an Emirati plane

Last month, an Emirati plane was grounded in the African country for several hours after UAE officials refused to allow the search of suspicious luggage

Emirati military trainers were held for hours at Bosaso International Airport in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland, as they refused to allow security forces to check their suspiciously “heavy” luggage

In an earlier incident, the Somali federal government had confiscated nearly 10 million dollars from a UAE Royal Jet at the Mogadishu International Airport

Following the incident the UAE ended its military training program in Somalia, which started in 2014

Tensions between Somalia and the UAE emerged in March after the Dubai-based DP World granted a 19-percent stake to Ethiopia in the Berbera port in breakaway Somaliland, which Somalia has not recognized as independent