The UAE Base Deal Offers Lessons for Somaliland’s New Security Partnerships
The 2017 agreement allowing the United Arab Emirates to establish a military facility at Berbera demonstrated that Somaliland could negotiate directly with a major regional power. It also exposed the political cost of approving a strategic agreement when lawmakers and the public lacked a clear view of its full terms.
That lesson matters again as Israel and the United States examine closer security cooperation around the Red Sea.
Strategic access can attract investment
Somaliland officials said the UAE arrangement would last 25 years and bring roads, airport improvements and support for health, education, water and energy. It followed DP World’s $442 million port agreement and formed part of a broader Emirati relationship with Berbera.
The partnership helped upgrade infrastructure and raised Somaliland’s regional profile. It showed that an unrecognised government could still bargain over territory it effectively controlled.
Unclear terms weakened public confidence
Parliament approved the base in February 2017, but the process attracted opposition complaints that lawmakers had not received the complete agreement. A United Nations monitoring report later recorded that Somaliland had granted the UAE permission to refurbish and use airport facilities for 25 years.
The controversy was not simply about whether Somaliland needed the partnership. It concerned whether representatives understood the duration, territorial boundaries, financial arrangements and military activities they were authorising.
Promised benefits require enforcement
Foreign agreements should contain schedules identifying each road, facility, payment and training programme, with deadlines and remedies for non-performance.
Somaliland also needs clauses governing:
- changes in the foreign partner’s mission;
- transfer of access to third countries;
- environmental damage and civilian claims;
- ownership of completed infrastructure;
- early termination and compensation;
- annual reporting to Parliament.
The regional environment can change long before a 25-year agreement expires. Yemen, Iran and Gulf alliances have already shifted dramatically since 2017.
WARYATV assessment
The UAE agreement taught Somaliland that strategic geography can unlock infrastructure and political access. It also showed that secrecy creates lasting suspicion and makes it difficult to judge whether promised benefits arrived.
Future agreements should preserve necessary operational confidentiality while publishing the bargain itself. Somaliland should never again ask Parliament to approve a strategic commitment without a complete legal text, a cost-benefit assessment and an implementation schedule.
Berbera’s value has increased since 2017. The quality of Somaliland’s negotiating and oversight institutions must increase with it.
Sources: UN monitoring account of the 2017 base | VOA report on parliamentary approval
