The strategic presence of France, the US and the UK in Africa over more than a century is well documented. Turkey expanded its military presence in the country between 2015 and 2019. Turkey initially premised its role in Africa on providing economic aid rather than military involvement. The move towards a military presence soon became apparent with the opening of a military base in Mogadishu, Somalia in September 2017. But the Libyan deployment holds the risk of setting up Turkish military forces in Africa against Russian regular and irregular contingents, or even fellow Muslim countries.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 05, 2020 13:30 UTC