The United States is planning to expand the CIA’s operations in Puntland, as published by the Middel east Eye news network according to the Information, US is converting its presence at Bossaso airport into a military base that it can conduct airstrikes and surveillance operations, according to US media outlet Drop Site News.
The media outlet said it received information from five Puntland security officials, who said that the current US headquarters at Bosaso airport is an intelligence and liaison office used by US Africa Command, AFRICOM, and the CIA.
AFRICOM officers at the facility now coordinate with Puntland forces and the main US headquarters in Djibouti when air support is needed, the officials said.
However, once the new base is completed, US aircraft are expected to conduct combat and surveillance operations directly from Bosaso.
The CIA will also expand its operations in Puntland, according to the report.
Puntland officially announced the agreement on August 2, after President Said Abdullahi Deni met with a US delegation led by Major General Claude Tudor, commander of US Special Operations Forces in Africa, in Bosaso.
The Puntland presidency said at the time that the US would expand its military presence in Bosaso to strengthen the fight against terrorist groups and maritime security.
The meeting also discussed security in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
However, the five officials who spoke to Drop Site said that Bosaso did not already have a full-fledged US military base, and the new agreement would effectively create a new US military presence in Puntland.
Nevertheless, Since the collapse of the Somali central military government in the 1991, Somalia has been suffering excessive military interventions and presence of foreign spy agents mainly from US, Europe and gulf-states who have contradictory interest over Somali’s future. As Somalia disintegrated and the clan politics dominated the current federal government can’t control the entire Somali territories in a De’facto way.
As result of that disintegration and the political disagreements, some clan-based regional entities conclude agreements and deals with foreign actors without the knowledge of the federal government and the ministry of foreign affairs. consequently, some federal regions declared unconstitutional independence others have their own semi-autonomous authority due to the weakness of the federal government in Mogadishu.
However, this excessive presence of foreign military and intelligence agencies in Somalia will not defiantly serving Somali’s national interest, security and territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Somalia.
Written by: Omar Ahmed
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