The Somalian President Is Pleading With Trump To Keep US Advisors & Aid

This suggests that he isn’t as confident in his supposed Egyptian and Eritrean allies’ support as he earlier pretended to be.

Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (HSM) gave an interview to the Washington Post on the sidelines of January’s Davos Summit that was published on the last day of the month. Headlined “President of Somalia: Trump must help defeat global terrorism”, it predictably saw him plead with the returned American leader to keep US advisors and aid for anti-terrorist purposes. According to HSM, Al Shabaab (AS) presents a global threat that risks returning unless Trump helps him decisively defeat them.

He has reason to be concerned about Trump’s plans since he pulled US troops out of Somalia during his first term before Biden sent them back as HSM’s interlocutor reminded their audience. They also prompted him to tell everyone that “Al-Shabab and the Houthis have a very good relationship. They are exchanging weapons and training.” This was brought about by his interlocutor comparing the threat that AS might one day pose to global shipping lanes to the one that the Houthis presently pose to them.

Trump appears to agree in principle that Somali-emanating terrorist threats are still a problem as proven by him authorizing airstrikes last weekend against what he described on social media as a “senior ISIS attack planner and other terrorists” in the country’s wayward Puntland Region. It’s unclear though whether this will translate into keeping advisors in Somalia for training the national forces to fight against AS, and one can only speculate whether he believes that they have ties to Iran’s Houthi allies.

In pursuit of his goal, however, HSM revealed that “we are requesting that the United States increase the number so that we can eliminate al-Shabab while President Trump is in office.” The interview also saw him clarify that much of the $1 billion in aid that was received from the US in 2023 was humanitarian, which was likely prompted by Trump’s 90-suspension of foreign aid (with the exception of emergency humanitarian programs) that might hit Somalia hard, though still it’s too early to tell.

HSM also urged Trump not to recognize Somaliland, which redeclared its independence in 1991 and whose official recognition thereof is being encouraged by some of the people around him in accordance with page 186 of “Project 2025”, on the basis this it could set off a separatist chain reaction in Africa. That might not be enough to persuade him since Project 2025’s argument about this being a hedge against the US’ deteriorating position in Djibouti is more compelling from the perspective of US interests.

All in all, HSM’s interview comes off as desperate and from a position of weakness, which he was placed in as a result of his clumsy geopolitical moves over the past year. If he was really as confident as he earlier pretended to be in the support of his supposed Egyptian and Eritrean allies, then he wouldn’t have to humiliate himself by pleading with Trump to keep US advisors and aid. The silver lining though is that he seems to have realized his mistakes and is now trying to atone for them, but it might be too late.