Regional powers use the 2021 presidential elections to fight their own battles

Early in 2021, Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo will stand for re-election against a background of regional in-fighting. Ethiopia and Eritrea have already decided to support the outgoing president but his relations with Kenya are continuing to deteriorate. Somalia accuses Kenya of destabilising the border state of Jubaland, while, at home, Farmajo is struggling to impose his authority over his regional presidents and Al-Shabaab is continuing to destabilise a country which is still trying to reconstruct itself. Turkey, which is very present in Somalia, and the Gulf countries are never far away either.