By RFIPosted on 12-29-2019Changed on 12-29-2019 at 8:04 PM
A Turkish military plane landed in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, after Saturday's bombing. On board: Turkish doctors who will collaborate with local teams. The plane will repatriate sixteen seriously injured to treat them in the country. It is not the first time that Turkey has sent humanitarian aid after an attack in Somalia. Medical collaborations, but also construction of roads, airports or hospitals, the Turkish-Somali relationship has been warm for several years.
With our correspondent in Istanbul , Cerise Sudry-Le Dû
Turkey will " always be on the side of Somalia ". Since the announcement of this Saturday's attack in Mogadishu , Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, paid tribute on Twitter to the victims of the attack, in which two Turkish citizens lost their lives, and reaffirmed his support for the country.
Turkey is indeed looking after its relationship with Somalia. On Saturday, it dispatched a military aircraft and provided medical care immediately after the attack, as it did in 2017 when an attack killed more than 300 people .
But medical aid is not the only area of investment in Turkey. Construction of airport, roads, schools, the country has invested in many areas and even opened a huge military base.
This intense investment also allows it to have a significant presence in the Horn of Africa, facing the Arabian Peninsula. And if Somalia is the main beneficiary of Turkish aid in Africa, the country is far from alone. In twenty years, economic exchanges with the African continent have grown from $ 100 million to $ 20 billion.
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