This archive report was first published on 24 July 2019.
On July 24, 2019, the president of Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland, Said Abdullahi Deni, called for an investigation into reports of Qatar's involvement in attacks in the port city of Bossasso.
The New York Times had reported that it had obtained an audio recording of a mobile phone conversation in which a businessman close to the emir of Qatar allegedly said that militants had carried out the bombing of a courthouse in Bossasso to support Qatar in its regional rivalry with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The contract to develop the port is held by DP World, based in the UAE, and the businessman allegedly said that the DP World contracts would be transferred to Qatar.
The Puntland president stated, " The New York Times is well-known and its report is trustworthy... I need to request that the federal government investigate the report and the allegations."
However, Somalia's federal news agency reported that the Qatari ambassador had denied the allegations, calling them "fake news."
