Erdoğan opens Turkish embassy in Mogadishu, no contractor or cost disclosed

On 3 June 2016, Goobjoog News reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened Turkey's embassy premises in Mogadishu. The report placed the building in Abdi Aziz district and described it as a heavily fortified, seafront structure covering an estimated 10,000 square meters. Goobjoog News characterised the facility as the largest such diplomatic facility in Africa, a description it did not support with a ranking or comparison set.

For contractors, the report's gaps are as notable as its facts. It names no contractor, builder, developer, architect or consultant. It states no contract value, construction cost or total project cost, and no funding source. It gives no construction start date, duration or completion date: the only fixed date is the opening itself.

The 10,000 square meter figure is an unattributed Goobjoog News estimate, not a verified or official measurement. No design specification from the builder or client is reported.

What was said at the opening

Speaking at the brief function, Erdoğan said the opening reiterated Turkey's support for reconstruction and peace building, according to Goobjoog News. Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci also attended, the report said.

Goobjoog News placed the opening in a longer Turkish building and aid record in Somalia. It reported that Turkey opened its embassy in Somalia in 2011, and that Erdoğan visited in 2011 as prime minister, the first head of the Turkish government to do so. The embassy opening followed his commissioning of a teaching and referral hospital and the Aden Adde Airport new terminal the previous year, the report said, without giving dates.

It also reported Turkish engagement including re-carpeting of roads in Mogadishu and street lighting, again without scale or cost, and said Turkey provided Somalia with over $400 million in what it called the biggest aid campaign to the country, according to Goobjoog News. The report gives no source, accounting or period for that figure and does not say whether it was pledged or disbursed.

On security construction, Goobjoog News reported that Turkish officials indicated in January that Turkey was going to build police and military training academies for Somali security forces. The report states no year for that January indication, and the academies are not reported as built, contracted or funded. Under an agreement between the Turkish and Somali governments, the report said, over 1,500 Somali troops will be trained by 200 Turkish military officers, a target rather than a delivered figure, according to Goobjoog News.

What the 2016 report does not establish about what has happened since is considerable. It records no expansion, modification, damage, closure or new works at the embassy. It does not say whether the police and military training academies were built, whether the troop-training target was met, or how the stated reconstruction support translated into measured outcomes. Those questions remain outside what Goobjoog News reported on 3 June 2016.