The president of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmajo” Mohamed, the 9th elected president
of this fragmented country, now has to navigate a complicated diplomatic dispute with UAE,
a previously allied country. (Ilyas Ahmed/Wikimedia Commons /TRTWorld)
The Gulf impasse caused political turmoil in the African country, with its central government aligning with Qatar and the federal states drifting towards the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The crisis has begun to challenge the country’s territorial integrity.
On the evening of May 23, 2017, a quotation appeared on the bottom of Qatar’s official news channel, attributed to the Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. “Iran,” it said, “is an Islamic power in the region that cannot be ignored.”