*SOMALIA AND SCRAMBLE*

NAIROBI : A battle for access to seaports is underway in one of the world's unlikeliest places : Somalia, now caught up in the-

Regional struggle between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on one side, with Qatar backed by Turkey on the other.

At stake, not just the busy waters off the Somalia coast but the future stability of the country itself.

Somalia has been at war for decades and until the last few years it has struggled to attract foreign investment.

But rivalries in the  nearby Arabian peninsula are resulting in serious inflows into Somalia.

A year ago, a company owned by the  United Arab Emirates government signed a $336 million contract to expand the port of Bosaso, north of Mogadishu in the semi autonomous Somali region of Puntland.

Less than a year before that, another UAE-owned firm took control of the Berbera port in the breakaway northern region of Somaliland and pledged up to $440 million to develop it.

In March, Ethiopia took a stake in the port for an undisclosed sum.

At the same time Turkey, an ally of UAE rival Qatar, is ramping up a multi-billion dollar investment push in Somalia.

A Turkish company that  has run the Mogadishu port since 2014, while other Turkish firms have built roads, schools, and hospitals.

The rivalries have intensified since June, when the most powerful Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and including the UAE, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Iran and Islamist militants.

That Middle Eastern feud is driving the desire to control the Horn of Africa and the waters, according to diplomats, businessmen,scholars and Somali officials.

Somalia is close to vital oil routes, and its ports could also serve land-locked Ethiopia, which has a population of 100 million.