Somali businessmen fund country’s $20m fuel storage facility awaiting oil boom

A group of Somali businessmen have pooled funds together to reopen the country's oil storage facility in the wake of record tumble in international oil revenue.

The oil storage facility was destroyed in the country's two- decade civil war.

“You have invested in your country, you have created opportunities for hundreds of unemployed people,” Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud told investors in an address at the opening ceremony.

The country, which has mainland Africa’s longest coastline, has in April 2016 scheduled an oil and gas summit in Turkey a it seeks to showcase what it says is significant energy potential.

Somalia has been mired in civil strife since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Mohamoud’s internationally backed government is trying to rebuild the country’s institutions and consolidate territorial gains made against al-Qaeda-linked militants.