Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ahmed Isse Awad who attended Riyadh summit praised Saudi King Salman for the role they played in establishing the Red Sea regime for the stability of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden region. Speaking at the summit, he said Somalia wants Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to be the headquarters of this regime.
Saudi Arabia’s most important goal in holding this meeting and the establishment of the regime of the Red Sea is to control the regional rivals, especially Turkey. In the same vein, the Sudanese government, as one of the Red Sea coastal countries, has recently given up the privilege of developing Suakin Island in the Red Sea to Turkey. In fact, Saudi Arabia is trying to prevent some coastal countries’ tendency towards Saudi rivals.
Due to the financial dependence that Saudi Arabia often has on the coast of the Red Sea, Al Saud is trying to prevent a Turkish regime in the coastal waters of the Red Sea by creating a legal regime.
Another issue is that Saudi Arabia, with the establishment of the Red Sea legal regime, is trying to prevent the growing influence of Qatar in the coastal countries of the sea. Doha has invested heavily in the Red Sea coastal countries over the past two decades, especially during the last 18 months, and now Saudi Arabia is trying to somehow oppose these investments. An expert in the region indicated that Somalia is playing with fire but supporting yet another initiative intended to isolate , the two countries that spent Millions of dollars in Somalia’s fragile institutions.
