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China-Africa relations
ChinaDiplomacy

US military may get access to strategic Somaliland port, airfield

  • Top Pentagon officials visited Hargeisa last week, and toured the newly renovated port and airport at Berbera
  • President Joe Biden on Monday signed an order to redeploy troops to Somalia, where al-Shabab has been waging a deadly insurgency

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A US delegation led by General Stephen J. Townsend, head of the US Africa Command, meets President Muse Bihi Abdi in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa last week. Photo: Handout
Jevans Nyabiage

The US military could gain access to the self-declared state of Somaliland’s strategically positioned port and airfield at Berbera, to counter the Islamic extremist rebel group al-Shabab in Somalia.

This is after US President Joe Biden signed an order on Monday to redeploy hundreds of American troops to Somalia, days after top Pentagon officials visited the Somaliland capital Hargeisa and met President Muse Bihi Abdi.

At the end of his term in 2021, Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump withdrew some 700 troops from Somalia as part of America’s policy of pulling out of global military missions abroad – a move Biden promised to reverse.

The US is reportedly courting Somaliland to use its Berbera port as an alternative to its Djibouti military base.

China, meanwhile, has appointed a special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, and plans to hold the first peace conference in the ­conflict-ridden region. Beijing advocates for Africa to be left to chart its own course out of problems ­without “external” interference.

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SCMP Explains: China’s growing role in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa

SCMP Explains: China’s growing role in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa
The US troop redeployment came a day after Somalia re-elected former leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday. Beijing welcomed his re-election, saying: “China stands ready to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in helping Somalia realise lasting peace and national reconstruction.”
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