In this article, we look into the archives and reveal how former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire sold nearly all of Somalia’s oil to Russia and was Putin’s inside man in the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).
Its no coincidence that Hassan Ali Khaire went from the director of an NGO, to an Oil and Gas executive, all the way to Prime Minister.
We first meet Hassan Ali Khaire working with Norwegian refugee Council (NRC) in Somalia. He worked at the NGO for many years, working his way up the ladder to Regional Director for the Horn of Africa.
At no time did he have any oil and gas or political experience. Something needed for his next two jobs.
Then in 2013, one of Putin’s well documented oligarchs named Alexander Djaparidze formed a company in the UK called Soma Oil to explore for oil in Somalia, and “randomly” hired Hassan Khaire. This should have raised eyebrows for anyone scrutinizing the company for deals.
Under the leadership of Khaire, Soma Oil quickly entered into a deal with the government of Somalia where they receive a shocking 90% of the revenues on oil it discovered
This is an extremely unusual rate in the industry, a daylight robbery of Somalia’s resources.
Upon receiving a tip, the UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) on Somalia quickly sounded the alarm, publishing a report on the lack of transparency on the oil deals.
Mohamed Keynan, then the Federal Government spokesperson, quickly covered for Khaire and swept the concerns under the rug.
In 2015, a bombshell revelation came when the SEMG started investigating whether Soma Oil bribed Somali officials with help from Hassan Ali Khaire newly discovered Al-Shabab connections. This is when the British Government started investigation Soma Oil.
With heat on Soma Oil and Hassan Khaire under bribery investigation the Russians had to ditch this plan and approach it from a different angle. They still wanted Somalia’s oil but this time they had to make sure their man was untouchable: Prime Minister of Somalia.
With the appointment of Mr. Khaire as prime minister of Somalia a flurry of events happened: 1) Khaire resigned from Soma Oil; 2) Khaire appointed Mohamed Keynan as Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister; 3) Soma Oil ceased all operations since Khaire became prime minister.
Why is Mohamed Keynan relevant here?
He helped whitewash the Soma Oil deal with the FGS when he was a spokesperson. He was then promoted to Permanent Secretary, a BIG jump from communications at Villa Somalia.
As the Permanent Secretary, he had extensive powers across the FGS.
Just six months after his appointment as prime minister and after leaving Soma Oil, Khaire flew to New York and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They discussed how Somalia and Russia can “work” together.
To this day, we don’t know what was discussed or what resulted.
Fast forward two years with no new development, Khaire met Recep Tayyip Erdogan in December of 2019 to discuss “trade” between Turkey and Somalia.
Shortly after, Erdogan announced he had reached an agreement with Hassan Ali Khaire for Turkey to explore for oil in Somalia. Where are the details?
Shortly after that, Khaire was voted out in an unprecedented parliamentary session. After protesting the decision, he left the position.
He then quickly announced his presidency for Somalia’s 2022 elections.
Khaire quickly makes a trip to Russia to shore up his alliance with Putin. He meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and they both publicize the meeting showing that they back him.
It should be clear to anyone at this point that Khaire is potentially a Russian puppet.
And here we are today, Khaire is still a presidential candidate in Somalia’s 2022 election despite clearly attempting to auction off Somalia’s resources.
In my opinion, Hassan Ali Khaire should never become President and must be investigated. His connections to Al-Shabab and Russia must be exposed!
This article was first posted as a Twitter thread and we are republishing it here with the author’s permission.
