play_arrow

keyboard_arrow_right

Listeners:

Top listeners:

skip_previous skip_next
00:00 00:00
playlist_play chevron_left
volume_up
Go to album
  • cover play_arrow

    LISTEN NOW: JafriQ Radio Live On Jafriq Radio

Africa

Africa: The Naval Agreement With Somaliland Raises New Tensions in the Horn of Africa

todayJanuary 10, 2024 2

Background
share close

[ad_1]

Addis Ababa — Tensions are increasing in the Horn of Africa in connection with the agreement between Somaliland and Ethiopia on access to the Red Sea (see Fides 3/1/2024) and the internal situation in Ethiopia. With the agreement signed on January 1st, Addis Ababa will receive the lease of about 20 km of the Somaliland coast for 50 years (with the establishment of a naval base) in return for Ethiopian recognition of this area, separated from the rest of Somalia and not yet recognized by any other State.

On January 6, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud promulgated a law hastily approved by the parliament in Mogadishu that “abolishes the illegal agreement” between Ethiopia and Somaliland.

The approval of the law “is an example of our commitment to protect our unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity under international law,” the Somali president wrote on X, the former Twitter. Even in Somaliland itself, the January 1 agreement was not unanimously approved. The defense minister, Abdiqani Mohamud Aateeye, resigned in protest against the pact with Addis Ababa, describing Ethiopia as “enemy number one of Somalia”.

It should be noted that he was talking about Somalia, not Somaliland, which suggests he shares a common vision with the rest of the country, at least when it comes to relations with its powerful neighbor. Eritrea, which contributed significantly to the suppression of the insurgency in the Ethiopian conflict region of Tigray by flanking Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopian troops, also views Ethiopia’s naval ambitions with fear, and indeed the Somali president in Asmara was promptly replaced by Eritrean President Afwerki.