EU condemns UAE retaliation against Somalia over Gulf crisis

The European Parliament has condemned the United Arab Emirates (UAE), claiming that the country was retaliating against Somalia's neutral stance on the Gulf crisis

In a resolution pbaded on Wednesday, the Belgian parliament said Somalia "was seeking to remain neutral" on the current Gulf crisis, but that it was "deprived of regular budget support". "With regard to the broader confrontation between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, on the one hand, and Qatar, on the other hand, the Federal Government of Somalia has sought to obtain payments from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. " to remain neutral, while in retaliation, Saudi Arabia and the UAE ceased their regular budget support payments to Somalia, further weakening the government's ability to pay security forces ", Says the resolution.

He urged "the UAE to immediately stop all acts of destabilization in Somalia and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia."

The dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain in progress since June 5, 2017, when the latter announced that they were cutting ties with Qatar. Qatar and imposed a land, sea and air blockade.

Arab countries accuse Doha of supporting "terrorism" and "extremist groups"

Somalia has been in an unstable security situation for decades. A group linked to Al Qaeda, al-Shabab, is fighting to overthrow the Somali-backed central government and establish its own government on the basis of its interpretation of Islamic law in the country's Horn of Africa. Africa

. some parts of the country, but since 2010, his fighters have been removed from most major cities, although continue to carry out deadly attacks.

Declining Relationship
Although there have been recent political disagreements between Mogadishu and Abu Dhabi, Somalia, unlike many other African countries, has refused to choose the sides of the Gulf crisis and called for dialogue to end the crisis.

Somalia's position in the midst of the crisis is delicate. – It is the main export partner and imports many UAE products

The African nation is also close to Turkey, which has given more than 1 billion dollars of aid to Somalia and supports Qatar in the rift. In addition, Abu Dhabi has agreed to train security forces in Somaliland, a region of northern Somalia seeking to separate from the country. The UAE has also signed a 30-year concession with Somaliland to manage the port of Berbera in the semi-autonomous region. He also started to build a military base in the port city.

Somalia rejected the agreement between Abu Dhabi and the northern Somali region as "non-existent, null and void" and called on the UN to act. [19659005] -Al Jazeera