Turkiye seeks growing influence in Africa

Turkiye seeks growing influence in Africa
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting with Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Antalya, Apr. 12, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 14 April 2025
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Turkiye seeks growing influence in Africa

Turkiye seeks growing influence in Africa
  • Ivory Coast is keen to work with Turkiye in all sectors, including communications, trade, security and education
  • Turkiye has signed defense agreements with Somalia, Libya, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana

ISTANBUL: Turkiye has long sought to extend its influence in Africa by mediating in conflicts and building military partnerships with countries on the continent.
Those efforts have picked up speed in recent months with diplomatic successes in resolving local conflicts, and as traditional powers such as France and the United States pull back from the continent, according to analysts and diplomats.
An annual diplomacy forum in the southern Mediterranean resort of Antalya on April 11-13 drew many African officials, including the president of Somalia, as part of Ankara’s efforts to consolidate its foothold in Africa.
“Today African countries are looking for alternatives, and Turkiye represents one of those options, so it has resonated well in Africa,” Professor Eghosa Osaghae, director general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, who attended the forum, told AFP.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has boosted his international standing after backing rebels who overthrew Syrian ruler Bashar Assad and brokering a key Horn of Africa peace deal between Somalia and Ethiopia.

We have relations with France that we are very proud of. But France doesn’t prevent us from having other partnerships

Kacou Leon Adom, Ivory Coast’s foreign minister

Ankara, which also hosted two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine at the start of the war, has often said it is ready to support any initiative leading to peace between its two Black Sea neighbors.
The Antalya forum was also attended by Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
For Osaghae, whether Turkiye can fill the vacuum in Africa left by France, which has seen many of its former colonies turn away from it in recent years, would “depend a great deal on how attractive Turkiye’s offers to African states will be.”
Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the forum in Antalya, Ivory Coast’s foreign minister, Kacou Leon Adom, said: “We have relations with France that we are very proud of. But France doesn’t prevent us from having other partnerships.”
The west African nation is keen to work with Turkiye in all sectors, including communications, trade, security, education, or training, he said.
“All of that interests us. And from this perspective, Turkiye is making us offers, and we will consider them.”
Security challenges
Many African countries are faced with challenges to their security, with groups such as Somalia-based Al-Shabab, Boko Haram from Nigeria and the Lord’s Resistance Army, which originated in Uganda, wreaking havoc.
“If it is possible for Turkiye to give assistance in these areas, why not?” Osaghae said.
“The good thing is that many African countries already have military cooperation with Turkiye. And that can be the building block for Turkish influence.”
Turkiye has signed defense agreements with a number of states spanning the breadth of the continent, including Somalia, Libya, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana.
Those agreements have opened up contracts for Turkiye’s defense industry, notably for its reputedly reliable and inexpensive drones.

According to Turkish diplomat Alp Ay, Turkiye offers dialogue — he noted its success in getting Somalia and Ethiopia to end a bitter dispute that had sparked fears of conflict in the restive Horn of Africa.
“We are trying to ensure that Africa can find its own solutions to African problems,” said Ay, who works as Ankara’s special representative in negotiations between Somalia and the breakaway Somaliland region.

The good thing is that many African countries already have military cooperation with Turkiye. And that can be the building block for Turkish influence

Eghosa Osaghae, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs

Tension mounted last year after Ethiopia struck a deal with Somaliland — which unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in a move not recognized by Mogadishu — to gain access to the sea.
But Ethiopia and Somalia announced a full restoration of diplomatic ties following a December deal mediated by Turkiye.
Ay said the responsibility from now on would be on both sides to uphold the deal but Turkiye would continue to play its facilitator role. “We are hopeful.”
A senior Somali diplomat likewise said Turkiye played “a very assistive role in bringing the two countries together to resolve this issue.”
In a sign of Ankara’s growing influence, Erdogan met his Somali counterpart, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on Saturday in Antalya.
“I think Turkiye is playing a key role in Somalia,” the Somali diplomat said.
“And it is a positive role. Turkiye is not only involved in security, it is also involved in other developmental projects in Somalia.”
Nigerian political scientist Osaghae said because there are many conflicts in the region, “Africa desperately needs mediators that are not only credible but are capable of doing the kinds of things that Turkish experience suggests.”


US embassy in Tripoli denies report of planned relocation of Palestinians to Libya

US embassy in Tripoli denies report of planned relocation of Palestinians to Libya
Updated 18 May 2025
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US embassy in Tripoli denies report of planned relocation of Palestinians to Libya

US embassy in Tripoli denies report of planned relocation of Palestinians to Libya
  • Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza

TRIPOLI: The US embassy in Libya denied on Sunday a report that the US government was working on a plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
On Thurdsay, NBC News said the Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
NBC News cited five people with knowledge of the matter, including two people with direct knowledge and a former US official.
“The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue,” the US embassy said on the X platform.
The Tripoli-based interionationally-recognized Government of National Unity was not available for immediate comment.
Trump has previously said he would like the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and its Palestinian population resettled elsewhere.
Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza, comparing such ideas to the 1948 “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war that led to the creation of Israel.
When Trump first floated his idea after taking the presidency, he said he wanted US allies Egypt and Jordan to take in people from Gaza. Both states rejected the idea, which drew global condemnation, with Palestinians, Arab nations and the UN saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing.
In April, Trump said Palestinians could be moved “around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that.”
During a visit to Qatar this week, Trump reiterated his desire to take over the territory, saying he wanted to see it become a “freedom zone” and that there was nothing left to save.
Trump has previously said he wants to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”


Libya’s PM says eliminating militias is ‘ongoing project’ as ceasefire holds

Libya’s PM says eliminating militias is ‘ongoing project’ as ceasefire holds
Updated 18 May 2025
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Libya’s PM says eliminating militias is ‘ongoing project’ as ceasefire holds

Libya’s PM says eliminating militias is ‘ongoing project’ as ceasefire holds
  • The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed concern on Friday about the escalation of violence in Tripoli, calling on parties to protect civilians and public property

TRIPOLI: Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah said on Saturday that eliminating militias is an “ongoing project,” as a ceasefire after deadly clashes this week remained in place.
“We will not spare anyone who continues to engage in corruption or extortion. Our goal is to create a Libya free of militias and corruption,” Dbeibah said in a televised speech.
Dbeibah is the country’s internationally recognized leader in the west, based in Tripoli.
After Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the armed groups to be dismantled, Tripoli was rocked by its fiercest clashes in years between two armed groups. The clashes killed at least eight civilians, according to the United Nations.
The government announced a ceasefire on Wednesday.
It followed Monday’s killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Apparatus group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.
SSA is under the Presidential Council that came to power in 2021 with the Government of National Unity of Dbeibah through a United Nations-backed process.
SSA was based in the densely populated Abu Salim neighborhood.
GNU’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that nine decomposed corpses were found in a morgue refrigerator in Abu Salim-based Al-Khadra hospital. It said SSA never reported them to authorities. The PM’s media office posted a video of Dbeibah greeting the security force protecting the Prime Ministry Building. It said he later received delegations from elders to discuss Tripoli’s situation and what he called “successful security operation in Abu Salim.”
“The Prime Minister stressed that this operation falls within the state’s fixed vision to eliminate armed formations outside the police and army institutions,” the media office said.
On Friday, at least three ministers resigned in sympathy with hundreds of protesters who took to the streets calling for Dbeibah’s ouster.
Dbeibah did not comment on their resignations. “The protests are annoying, but I’ve put up with them. I know some of them are real, but a lot of them are paid,” he said.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed concern on Friday about the escalation of violence in Tripoli, calling on parties to protect civilians and public property.
Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.
While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.
A major energy exporter, Libya is also an important way station for migrants heading to Europe, while its conflict has drawn in foreign powers including Turkiye, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
State-oil firm NOC said on Friday that its operations at oil facilities are proceeding as normal, with oil and gas exports operating regularly.


Israel says intercepted missile from Yemen, Houthis claim attack

Israel says intercepted missile from Yemen, Houthis claim attack
Updated 32 min 27 sec ago
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Israel says intercepted missile from Yemen, Houthis claim attack

Israel says intercepted missile from Yemen, Houthis claim attack

CAIRO: The Israeli military said Sunday it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthis claimed launching two missiles at Israel’s main airport.
“A missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that air raid sirens had sounded in several areas of the country.
The Houthis later said they had fired “two ballistic missiles” toward Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv.
The Iran-backed militants have regularly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, following an attack on Israel by the Houthis’ Palestinian ally Hamas.
Earlier this month, a Houthi missile struck the area of the Tel Aviv airport, gouging a hole near its main terminal building and wounding several people in a rare penetration of Israeli air defenses.
On Friday, Israel bombed the Houthi-held Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salif following three missile attacks in as many days. It threatened to target the Houthi leadership if the attacks continued.
In response to the strike that landed near Ben Gurion, Israel has struck the airport in Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital Sanaa and three nearby power stations.
On Sunday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group would continue targeting Israel until the “siege is lifted” on Gaza.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have also targeted Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
Their attacks on the vital shipping route drew retaliatory strikes by the United States, which in early May sealed a ceasefire with the group that did not include Israel.


Syria announces commissions for missing persons, transitional justice

Syria announces commissions for missing persons, transitional justice
Updated 18 May 2025
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Syria announces commissions for missing persons, transitional justice

Syria announces commissions for missing persons, transitional justice
  • A decree signed by interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and released by the presidency announced the formation of an independent “national commission for missing persons”

DAMASCUS: Syria on Saturday announced the formation of a national commission for missing persons and another for transitional justice, more than five months after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
Syria’s new authorities have pledged justice for victims of atrocities committed under Assad’s rule, and a five-year transitional constitution signed in March provided for the formation of a transitional justice commission.
The fate of tens of thousands of detainees and others who went missing remains one of the most harrowing legacies of Syria’s conflict, which erupted in 2011 when Assad’s forces brutally repressed anti-government protests, triggering more than a decade of war.
A decree signed by interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and released by the presidency announced the formation of an independent “national commission for missing persons.”
The body is tasked with “researching and uncovering the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, documenting cases, establishing a national database and providing legal and humanitarian support to their families.”
A separate decree announced the formation of a national commission for transitional justice to “uncover the truth about the grave violations caused by the former regime.”
That commission should hold those responsible to account “in coordination with the relevant authorities, remedy the harm to victims, and firmly establish the principles of non-recurrence and national reconciliation,” according to the announcement.
The decree noted “the need to achieve transitional justice as a fundamental pillar for building a state of law, guaranteeing victims’ rights and achieving comprehensive national reconciliation.”
Both bodies will have “financial and administrative independence” and act over all of Syrian territory, according to the decrees signed by Sharaa.
In December, an Islamist-led coalition toppled Assad after five decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule and nearly 14 years of brutal war that killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more.
Tens of thousands of people were detained and tortured in the country’s jails, while Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against his own people.
Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasized the importance of transitional justice in the war-torn country.
In March, Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration for a five-year transitional period.
It stipulated that during that period, a “transitional justice commission” would be formed to “determine the means for accountability, establish the facts, and provide justice to victims and survivors” of the former government’s misdeeds.
This week, prominent Syrian human rights lawyer Mazen Darwish told AFP that lasting peace in Syria depended on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era.


Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 66 people, hospitals and medics say

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 66 people, hospitals and medics say
Updated 19 min 12 sec ago
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Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 66 people, hospitals and medics say

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 66 people, hospitals and medics say
  • The Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of 20 people who were killed in multiple overnight airstrikes

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 66 people overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics in the battered enclave said as Israel launches an escalation of its war in the territory, which it says is meant to ramp up pressure on Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of 20 people who were killed in multiple overnight airstrikes that hit houses and tents sheltering displaced families in the Muwasi area.
In northern Gaza, at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes, according to first responders from the health ministry and the civil defense.
The dead included nine people from a single family who were killed when an airstrike hit their house in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, according to the health ministry’s emergency services.
Another strike hit the house of the Berawi family, also in Jabaliya, killing 10 people including seven children and a woman, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government. Among the dead were two parents and their three children and a father and his four children, it said.
In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir Al-Balah. One strike in the Zweida town killed seven people, including two children and four women. The second hit an apartment in Deir Al-Balah, killing two parents and their child, the hospital said.