Hiiraan Online

Mogadishu (HOL) — Former Somali Foreign Minister Abdisalan Muse Ali has accused the Puntland regional administration of enabling Emirati cargo flights suspected of transporting weapons to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), warning that such actions could implicate Somalia in violations of international law.

Abdisalan alleged that Bosaso International Airport had become a regular stopover for flights originating from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and bound for Sudan and Libya, claiming they carried military supplies rather than commercial goods. He warned that any authorization by Somali authorities would amount to complicity in aiding a force accused of war crimes.

“These are not civilian flights,” Abdisalan said Friday. “If the federal government or any regional administration authorized them, it would be an act of negligence, or direct support for a group accused of atrocities.”

The former minister urged an independent investigation into who approved the flight clearances and called for a full review of cargo movements through Somali airspace since mid-2025. He cautioned that proven involvement could expose Somalia to international sanctions, economic penalties, and reputational damage.

The allegations follow a United Nations report accusing the UAE of breaching international arms embargoes by transferring weapons later found with militias in Sudan, Somalia, and Libya. UN investigators traced British-made equipment, including engines used in Emirati-manufactured Nimr Ajban armoured vehicles, to RSF positions in Khartoum and Omdurman.

The UN panel warned that the diversion of such equipment posed a “serious risk” to regional stability. The RSF has been accused of massacres in Al-Fasher and other parts of Darfur during a war that has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced 12 million.

Satellite imagery reviewed shows that the UAE has built or expanded military installations in Bosaso and Berbera, both outside Mogadishu’s control. The Bosaso site includes radar towers, fortified hangars, and ammunition depots overlapping with the UAE-trained Puntland Maritime Police Force.

A joint investigation by The Guardian and Colombian outlet La Silla Vacía reported that the Bosaso base was also used as a transit hub for Colombian mercenaries hired to fight alongside the RSF. The fighters said they were flown from Bogotá to Ethiopia before being transferred through Bosaso en route to Sudan’s Darfur region.

In April, open-source analysts identified an Israeli-made ELM-2084 radar system, part of Israel’s Iron Dome air defence network, installed near Bosaso Airport, allegedly under a confidential arrangement between Abu Dhabi and Puntland authorities.

In August, Somalia’s federal government rejected social media claims that recent visits by delegations from the United Arab Emirates and Sudan were linked to the Sudan war, stating that the two trips were unrelated and focused on bilateral cooperation. 

Still, Abdisalan’s allegations have renewed debate over Somalia’s sovereignty and the UAE’s growing influence through direct dealings with regional administrations.

“The Somali people cannot afford to become collateral in foreign wars,” Abdisalan said. “Using our territory for arms trafficking undermines our sovereignty and risks turning Somalia into a proxy battleground.”