PAK'S SOMALIA DEAL SPARKS CONCERNS OF PARALLEL MILITARY INFLUENCE IN HORN OF AFRICA

Officials describe it as part of a broader effort, coordinated with Turkey, to expand Islamabad’s military footprint and intelligence presence in the strategically significant waters off the Somali coast.

- ASHISH SINGH

As the world watches the Pakistan-Saudi defence pact take shape, another MoU involving Islamabad is stirring unease—this time thousands of kilometres away in the Horn of Africa.

Signed on August 28, 2025, Pakistan’s defence cooperation agreement with Somalia opens a new chapter in its bid for influence in the Horn of Africa.

The five-year pact, cleared by Somalia’s cabinet, gives Pakistan access to train Somali personnel at its Staff and War Colleges, assist in modernising the Somali navy, and even set up new naval units capable of maritime patrols and anti-piracy operations. Officials familiar with the matter describe it as part of a broader effort—coordinated with Turkey—to expand Islamabad’s military footprint and intelligence presence in the strategically significant waters off the Somali coast.

The deal marks a sharp turn from the cooperative model that once stabilised these waters.

In 2009, Somali pirates hijacked a US cargo ship called the Maersk Alabama and took the captain hostage.

That year, this issue garnered global headlines, which brought attention to the issue of piracy near Somalia. The Gulf of Aden, at the time, was one of the most dangerous places for ships to traverse, with pirates regularly attacking vessels. This affected the global trade hugely. By 2017, however, as a result of a coordinated international response led by the EU and supported by navies world over, piracy was brought under control with the use of joint patrols, shared intelligence, and efforts to build Somalia's maritime capacity.

Today, this progress is under threat and this time it is not a result of piracy but politics. New bilateral security deals risk undoing the very cooperation that helped stabilise the region.

These arrangements, which intend to operate outside the agreed channels of the African Union and UN, risk fracturing the coordination and weakening the broader regional response.