Payments to top politicians were used to secure a UAE military base in controversial Somaliland-UAE deal

Officials in Somalia and breakaway Somaliland took bribes in exchange for authorizing a United Arab Emirates military base in the port city of Berbera, according to Somalia’s auditor general. Auditor General Nur Jimale Farah is one of several observers questioning the propriety of the UAE base deal, which Somaliland’s parliament overwhelmingly approved Sunday. In an interview…