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Turkey opens largest overseas military base in Somalia

October 5, 2017 at 9:25 am

Turkey opened its largest overseas military base in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Saturday.

The military base will serve as an academy where nearly 200 Turkish troops will be tasked with building the Somali National Army in the hope that it will be strong enough to fight the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabab military group.

Somalia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Abukar Osman, told the UN Security Council last month that “the Somali National Army is not ready to take over the security of the country”.

Somalia has been at war since 1988. The United States, supported by the United Nations, intervened in the country in an apparent bid to stabilise the country however the intervention only added more chaos.

Turkey is operating in the Horn of Africa in full coordination with the United States and NATO.

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