Last Saturday, the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) seized a Turkish-origin cargo ship transporting both light and advanced weapons to the Federal Government of Somalia in Mogadishu. While analysts piece together why the vessel was intercepted and what the wider implications might be, a widening rivalry is evident between Puntland and the federal authorities—and, perhaps more importantly, between their foreign backers, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. In this article we will delve into evidence of UAE activity at Bosaso Airport and Base, using satellite imagery and social-media posts to document its growing presence.

Why Puntland, and Why Bosaso?

Since 2012 the UAE has bank-rolled, trained and armed the 2,000-strong Puntland Maritime Police Force, headquartered in Bosaso and dotted along the coast at Qandala, Hafun and up in the Galgala hills. What started as an anti-piracy outfit now doubles as Puntland’s counter-terror spearhead—reliable, pliant and outside Mogadishu’s reach. Late-2022 saw Emirati soldiers flying in: at least a dozen military transports touched down with vehicles and kit, cementing Bosaso as the UAE’s forward node on the Gulf of Aden shipping lane.

Colombian PMC Contractors

A defining feature of the UAE’s foreign policy across African theatres of conflict, such as Sudan, has been its reliance on Colombian PMC contractors. Late in 2024, Bellingcat traced a missing—likely dead—Colombian contractor’s journey from Colombia to the UAE and on to a road in eastern Libya leading toward Sudan. The Sudanese Armed Forces later seized the contractor’s identification documents after a battle somewhere in the desert along the Libya-Chad-Sudan border.

An investigation by Colombian outlet La Silla Vacía revealed that a Colombian PMC firm linked to the UAE recruits former Colombian soldiers on the false promise of lucrative work in the Emirates. Once hired, the contractors are flown to Haftar-controlled eastern Libya, Sudan, and—as shown below through social-media evidence—to Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region. These contractors were spotted in February and May 2025.

What is at the base?

The current Google Maps satellite layer shows a C-130 military transport aircraft and an Il-76 cargo aircraft on the apron. These are the only airframes visible, yet the many UAV and military-aircraft hangars scattered around the PMPF compound suggest that the Emiratis may store a substantial drone fleet at Bosaso. In April, Middle East Eye also identified an Israeli-made, Emirati-operated ELM-2084 3D AESA multi-mission radar on the base. Visual evidence points to additional ammunition depots, a surface-to-air-missile (SAM) launch site and rows of light vehicles.

Historical satellite imagery indicates that:

• A cargo plane hangar was built in May 2022;
  
• An ammunition store, SAM site and the main hangar complex beside the runway were built between November and December 2023 (hangar complex expanded further in July 2024);
  
• The principal barracks block was completed in November 2022 and has been upgraded continuously since;
  
• An Israeli-built radar was prepared and installed some time between October 2024 and March 2025 (MEE cites an anonymous security source for March 2025, but satellite shots show heavy works in September–October 2024); and
  
• A large light-vehicle park appeared in February–March 2024.
  

Images of these specific areas are presented below.

2020 vs 2025

The following videos show the development of the Bosaso Military Complex from December 2020 to March 2025.