Friday 31, Oct 2025 {HMC} Colombian mercenaries, regular transport flights and cargo marked ‘hazardous’ reveals a vast covert operation fuelling the RSF massacres in el-Fasher.

At Bosaso Airport in Somalia’s Puntland state, the thunderous sound of large aircraft hitting the tarmac echoes out across the port city. Minutes after landing, the aircraft can be identified. It is a white IL-76 heavy cargo transport plane, and it is parking next to a very similar aircraft.

For local residents, the sound of such planes was unusual two years ago, when they first began landing in Bosaso. Not anymore. Moments later, undisclosed heavy logistical materials are seen being offloaded from the aircraft.

“They’re frequent and the logistics are transferred immediately to another aircraft that is on standby and is destined for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan through the neighboring countries,” said Abdullahi, a senior Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) commander at Bosaso Airport, who spoke to Middle East Eye using a different name for security reasons.

According to flight tracking data, satellite imagery, multiple local sources, and US and regional diplomats, the origin of these planes and their cargo is clear: the United Arab Emirates.

The destination, as Abdullahi said, is Sudan and the RSF, which this week has captured el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, after over 500 days of siege. The paramilitary’s fighters have committed terrible atrocities in the wake of their triumph, filming themselves massacring fleeing civilians and carrying out mass executions at hospitals.

Over a period of months, a pattern could be seen in the cargo aircraft tracked by MEE coming into Bosaso.

The planes would not remain long at the airport and would arrive during periods of minimal activity at the airport. Publicly available air traffic data shows that the UAE increasingly uses Bosaso Airport as the arrival times of the aircraft are sometimes changed.

“During loading and offloading, they are heavily guarded, as they carry sensitive materials and logistics that are not publicly disclosed,” Abdullahi said. Supplies also come into the port at Bosaso.

For years, the UAE has been funding Puntland’s PMPF, a regional force established to combat piracy. The soldiers there say none of the materiel arriving on transport aircraft is brought to their camp, as the shipments are large and beyond their requirements.
Flight tracking data previously reported by MEE has revealed that the UAE has significantly increased the supply of weapons into Bosaso, with US intelligence saying that these include Chinese-made drones.

A senior manager at Bosaso’s port revealed for the first time to MEE that, for the past two years, the United Arab Emirates has funnelled over 500,000 containers marked as hazardous through Bosaso.

Unlike standard cargo, which is documented with a letter of origin and destination, these Emirati shipments have no description of their contents. The port manager said that the logistics operations are shrouded in secrecy: upon arrival, the containers are swiftly transferred to the airport and loaded onto standby aircraft.

Security for these shipments is exceptionally tight, MEE’s sources in Bosaso said. When a ship docks, PMPF forces are deployed to cordon off the port and prevent filming. Only personnel on duty are granted access, and they are explicitly warned against recording anything during the offloading and transit process.

The sources contended that the clandestine nature of the operation proves the goods were not for domestic use.

“If they were, we would see where they were stored or find the empty containers,” the senior manager said. Instead, he said, “it was just transit”, meaning that Bosaso was a covert stopping point.

Middle East Eye wrote to the government of the UAE and to regional authorities in Puntland requesting a response. Neither replied. The UAE has previously denied sponsoring the RSF.
Colombian mercenaries

Located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, Bosaso airport hosts several heavily fortified military facilities, including one occupied by UAE commanders and security personnel believed to be South Africans.

To the north of the airport lies a separate camp housing Colombian mercenaries involved in the war in Sudan.

Pictures exclusively obtained by MEE show dozens of Colombians carrying backpacks disembarking from an aircraft at Bosaso airport and heading directly to the camp.

When shown the images, Abdullahi immediately recognised them, saying: “Yes, they’re Colombian mercenaries operating from here in large numbers.”

The Colombian personnel arrive in Bosaso on international commercial flights, transiting through the airport almost every day before continuing on to Sudan, where they fight alongside the RSF.

Somali soldiers from the PMPF, who are stationed at the airport, rarely have access to the Colombians’ camp. Abdullahi explained that “the mercenaries have built a new hospital within their compound, which they use to treat soldiers wounded in Sudan.

“I recall one occasion when a plane carrying injured soldiers landed at Bosaso airport and the aircraft door was visibly stained with blood,” he said.

The maritime police officer told MEE that the camp also serves as a medical transit point for wounded RSF fighters, who are later flown to other destinations for further treatment.
Just next to the airport, the United Arab Emirates has installed a military radar system – believed to be French – designed to protect Bosaso airport from potential attacks.

As MEE reported recently, Bosaso is connected to a ring of bases built and expanded by the UAE across the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.

The bases, on the islands of Mayun, Abd al-Kuri, Samhah; at the Somaliland port of Berbera and the Yemeni port of Mocha, are all on territory nominally controlled not by the UAE but its allies or clients.

Soldiers stationed in Bosaso say the presence and activities of Colombian mercenaries in the area have become increasingly concerning, leaving many PMPF soldiers feeling unsafe.
“We believe there is a high risk that the Sudanese government could target activities at Bosaso airport,” said Abdullahi.

‘A plane carrying injured soldiers landed at Bosaso airport and the aircraft door was visibly stained with blood’ – Abdullahi, Puntland Maritime Police Force officer Before Sudan’s war began in April 2023, the country offered scholarships to thousands of Somali students, with one of the notable beneficiaries of this scheme being Somalia’s current defence minister, Ahmed Moallim Fiqi.

Several Puntland Maritime Police Force soldiers admit they are uneasy about cooperating with the foreign personnel involved in the Sudan war, fearing their work might indirectly support a genocide against a country they consider a close ally.

At the beginning of the year, the US government determined that the “members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan”, a conclusion that has been reached by many human rights groups.

“I believe it’s morally unacceptable to assist mercenaries engaged in fighting a nation that has long supported Somalis – including members of my own family,” the soldier said.
Somalia and the UAE

For years, the United Arab Emirates has provided financial assistance to Mogadishu and trained Somali soldiers to combat armed groups such as al-Shabab.
But this relationship has darkened significantly in recent years, as the UAE has aided and abetted regional administrations like Puntland and Somaliland, which have designs on splitting away from Somalia.

‘Mogadishu is unable to object, given that it is unprepared to counter the UAE’s expanding influence’ – Abdirashid Muse, analyst Mogadishu maintains control over Somali airspace and authorises all flights into the country, but it has no authority over Bosaso’s port and airport.

Despite the uneasy relationship that exists between Hassan Sheikh, Somalia’s president, and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed, the government in Mogadishu has not openly confronted Abu Dhabi over its military activities in Puntland.

“Mogadishu is unable to object, given that it is unprepared to counter the UAE’s expanding influence,” said Abdirashid Muse, a regional analyst and critic of the UAE’s activities in the Horn of Africa.

He agrees with Abdullahi, noting that the UAE’s activities in Bosaso are deeply concerning, as they risk drawing Somalia into broader geopolitical rivalries among regional powers.

Puntland’s state president, Said Abdullahi Deni, is widely regarded as a close ally of the UAE, largely due to the financial support that could strengthen both his administration and his political ambitions.

Meeting the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan recently, US President Donald Trump laughed and referred to him, on camera, as having “unlimited cash”.

Martin Plaut, an academic specialising in conflicts in the Horn of Africa, said the UAE’s involvement in the war in Sudan is driven primarily by its interest in obtaining gold and expanding regional influence.

In the case of Puntland, he said its strategic location and relative independence made it an ideal operational base for the UAE.

“Puntland remains one of the least surveyed and overseen areas in the world. It’s simply a convenient place for the UAE to operate from – and nobody is going to ask them any questions,” Plaut told MEE.

In July, Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the UN Security Council that the ICC has “reasonable grounds to believe” that both war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Sudan.
“Puntland authorities could be complicit and may have a case to answer,” said Plaut.

By Bashir Mohamed Caato

Friday 31, Oct 2025 {HMC} Hundreds of families caught in the centre of fresh conflict in Awdheegle, west of the Somali capital Mogadishu, are stranded in camps near the town of Marka without any access to food, water, and shelter.

Around 300 families, displaced for the first time, fled their homes and farms when fighting erupted between government forces and Al-Shabaab earlier in October in Awdheegle, Lower Shabelle region.

Many walked for days with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, leaving behind houses and farmland that were later destroyed. They are living in two already existing camps seven kilometres outside Marka.

Hassan Nur Ali, 55, fled to Buulo-samow camp with his wife and seven children empty-handed. They sit during the day under a rough shelter made of tree branches tied together and covered with old cloth. Nighttime brings little sleep for them.

“We have no food, no water, and no protection from mosquitoes, we sleep under branches we gathered ourselves, without plastic sheets or bedding. Some days we go without food for two days,” Hassan told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.

Hassan’s family depends on cooked meals shared by other displaced families in the camp. The only water source is a single pipe connected to a borehole in Marka town. People wait in long queues to fetch water, and sometimes the supply stops before everyone gets a turn. Water is sold at 2,000 Somali shillings for 20 litres.

“It can take me several hours just to get two litres of water,” he said. “Some days my children go thirsty. We beg water from those who manage to fetch it.”

Hassan owned a four-hectare vegetable farm and a three-room house in Awdheegle. His crops were planted just weeks before the fighting began, but people who later returned told him his home and farm had been burned down.

“I had enough food and a proper home before, now everything is gone. Even my children’s schooling stopped. Two of them were studying in Awdheegle, now they just sit idle here,” he said.

Hassan spent two weeks walking to and from Marka town in search of casual labour, but he found that most jobs are given through personal connections, leaving him without work or income.

The 50 kilometre journey from Awdheegle to Marka took him and his family five days on foot: “We suffered from hunger and thirst the whole way, it was the hardest thing I have ever faced.”

Buulo-samow camp already housed more than 1,000 displaced families from previous conflicts. The recent influx from Awdheegle has worsened the fragile situation.

Muridi Hassan Ookar, the camp leader, said the earlier residents are sharing what little they have with the newcomers, offering cooked food and small amounts of water.

“Families here survive by helping each other, those who can afford a little rice or beans share it with those who have nothing. It’s not enough, but it saves lives for now,” the camp leader said.

A joint committee managing Buulo-samow and Awmacalin camps encourages the slightly better off families to assist the new arrivals. Most newcomers, however, lack even basic cooking utensils.

“People bring ready-cooked meals like rice, porridge, or beans with oil, sometimes they also give small jerrycans of water. That’s how they manage to survive each day,” said the camp leader.

Among the helpers is Ahado Amin Muudey, a 61-year-old widow who fled from Johara village after her eldest son was killed in the fighting. He was 31 and a father of four children, whose care now rests on Ahado’s shoulders.

“Their father died in the war. When he was alive, we never went hungry. The children went to school, and he worked hard on the farm, now there is no work and no food. We eat once or twice a day when we’re lucky,” she said.

Ahado joined Buulo-samow camp in early October. She shares the food she cooks with a neighbouring family even though her own household barely has enough to eat.

“My life depends on the kindness of neighbours, sometimes people bring us food, sometimes they don’t. Whatever I get is what I feed my children,” she added.

Ahado hopes that they can return home once peace is restored so she can cultivate her land again.

“I have a farm waiting for me, if only it was safe to go back,” she said.

Camp leaders say families in Buulo-samow and Awmalim need food, water, and shelter.

“The conditions have become much harder with the new influx. We appeal to international aid agencies to respond quickly. People are suffering from lack of water and proper housing,” said Muridi, the camp leader.