Janvier Chando

🇸🇴🇹🇷🇦🇪 Somalia's war is 35 years old, and every side now has a foreign sponsor. The state fell in 1991 and Somaliland broke away that same year. Puntland went its own way in 1998. Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda's local branch, grew after Ethiopia's 2006 invasion and now holds about 30% of the land. Who keeps Somalia in pieces? The sponsors, one by one → Uganda led the African Union force from 2007. Kenya sent its army into the south in 2011, the year Turkey arrived with aid, then a port and a base. → The UAE took ports in Somaliland and Puntland in 2016-17. Israel recognised Somaliland in Dec 2025, and Egypt sent troops in Feb 2026. The twist → Egypt and Turkey were bitter rivals for a decade. In Mogadishu they now stand together → while the UAE backs the regions that defy the capital. Where it stands Mogadishu cut all its UAE deals in Jan 2026. Puntland and Jubaland sit out its coming election. And the African Union mandate runs out on 31 Dec. The capital lives on borrowed armies, and the region that runs itself is the one almost nobody recognises. If the African Union leaves without a replacement, watch al-Shabaab's next move.