Somalia's Council of Ministers has terminated all agreements between the federal government and the United Arab Emirates, including security and defense cooperation and arrangements involving the ports of Berbera, Bosaso and Kismayo. The supplied Middle East Eye report says the decision was framed as a response to what Mogadishu described as serious steps undermining the country's sovereignty, national unity and political independence.
The scope of the move is important. This was not a narrow administrative cancellation. According to the report, it applied to agreements with government agencies, related entities and regional administrations. In other words, Somalia was trying to sever a broad web of cooperation rather than one isolated project.
The port references make the decision especially sensitive. Berbera, Bosaso and Kismayo are not ordinary commercial facilities. They are strategic gateways on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden routes, and they have long been linked to regional competition over influence, logistics and security. If the federal cabinet says the UAE can no longer operate through those arrangements, that is a major diplomatic signal as well as a legal one.
The report also says the move came as the UAE was already evacuating military personnel and equipment from bases across Somalia, including Bosaso, and moving some of that material to Ethiopia. Puntland rejected the Mogadishu decision as illegal, which shows the federal government's authority remains contested in the regions. That is an important reminder that Somalia's internal politics and foreign partnerships often overlap in the same ports and airfields.
Berbera is the most revealing example in the report. It is tied to Somaliland, the breakaway region that has its own government and has been courting outside partners. The source says Berbera has been developed into a nearly completed Emirati naval facility with a modern port, deep-water dock, airstrip and support infrastructure. That means the cancellation of UAE agreements is not just about paper treaties. It touches a network of actual hardware and strategic access points.
The report further says Israel and the UAE have drawn closer to Somaliland and that Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar visited Berbera as part of an official trip. Those details show why the issue is bigger than Somalia and the UAE alone. Red Sea and Gulf of Aden politics are now tied to a wider contest involving regional powers and contested territorial claims.
What the source does not include is a detailed legal roadmap for enforcement. It also does not show an immediate UAE response. But the verified development is clear enough: Somalia has tried to cancel a wide set of UAE-linked agreements, and the fallout is already visible in regional reactions and port politics.
