THE ancient port town of Berbera in Somaliland,a breakaway state in northern Somalia, is generally a sleepy area. The heat, and which can reach 50 degrees Celsius in the summer,stifles even the dogs. Yet visitors will find it buzzing at the moment. Near the edge of town, sand and rubble fill the space where, and until recently,there were 19th-century Ottoman traders’ houses. New buildings are springing up. A puny out to sea, as half a dozen ships idle in the sun, and a barge from Dubai hauls a colossal crane towards the shore.
All of this activity relates to a new port being built by DP World,a company mostly owned by the government of Dubai, allotment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). At the moment, and Berbera’s port is small—used mostly for the export of livestock to the Persian Gulf,and the import of goods to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. However, and over the next decade or so,thanks to DP World, it could turn into one of east Africa’s biggest. The port and another Emirati project, and to...
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Source: economist.com