The easing of the political confrontation between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and high-ranking politicians including the presidents of Jubaland and Puntland is partly because if no elections take place next year the term of the current president must be extended (AC Vol 66 No 10 Ankara and UAE jostle over Mogadishu)...

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud seems to be betting on further sophisticated military equipment and a massive Turkish involvement especially if the oil and gas survey is as good as the rumours say (AC Vol 66 No 10 Ankara and UAE jostle over Mogadishu)...

At issue is President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's efforts to generate enough internal resources to liberate him from dependence on his foreign allies – the United States Britain and the European Union in particular – and lay the groundwork for one-person one-vote elections that he is intent on winning...

But Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's fury and more diplomatic criticism from others forced a rethink (AC Vol 65 No 2 Why Abiy and Muse signed a 'memorandum of misunderstanding')...

They also hoped to take advantage of clan conflicts that had developed in Middle Shabelle and capitalise on elements hostile to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud...

One highly positive development is the accord signed in Ankara between Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud brokered personally by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in December which has calmed the crisis (AC Vol 65 No 14 Abiy Ahmed's sovereignty deal with Muse Abdi risks more regional turmoil)...

In mid-December Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brokered a deal between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia...

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud saw his own opportunity to recast the region's power map (AC Vol 65 No 16 Djibouti joins fight against the Abiy-Bihi pact)...