Somali President Mohammed Abdullah Farmajo rejected an offer of 80 million US dollars to sever diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar, reports the Middle East Monitor.
The monetary offer was to put pressure “on the Somali government by Saudi Arabia to reverse Somalia’s decision to stay neutral in the siege imposed by some Arab governments on the State of Qatar.” MEM quotes Somali Today as saying.
Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw financial aid to the Somali government unless Somalia change its neutral stand in which it has called for an end to the political dispute between Qatar and the other Arab nations through dialogue via Islamic organisations like the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), according to the report by MEM.
A Qatari delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sultan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, arrived in Mogadishu yesterday to hold talks between the Gulf States and officials of the Somali Federal government. According to MEM, the Qatari delegation met with the Somali Prime Minister, Hasan Ali Khairi, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and are also expected to meet Farmajo.
Thousands of Somalis running businesses in United Arab Emirates are living in a diplomatic limbo as they face possible expulsion from the Gulf state following their country’s decision to seek a neutral stance in the Qatar crisis, according to Somalia’s Radio Dalsan.
Video: Somali student participating Dubai Quran Award Competition Deported as #UAE suspends diplomatic ties with #Mogadishu #GulfCrisis pic.twitter.com/SCCTPOYhvc
— Radio Dalsan (@RadioDalsan1) June 12, 2017
