Ethiopia deal with breakaway Somaliland region sparks row with Somalia
- Somalia recalls envoy to Ethiopia after sea access agreement with Somaliland
- Breakaway region of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991
Somalia recalled its envoy to Ethiopia after its landlocked neighbour signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, a breakaway enclave, giving it access to the Red Sea.
In exchange, Ethiopia will offer a stake in its flagship carrier, Ethiopian Airlines. It will also officially recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, the region’s President Muse Bihi Abdi said. Ethiopia hasn’t explicitly said that it was recognising the breakaway region.
Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 from Somalia after the eruption of a civil war. Since then, it’s been pushing for international recognition that would allow it to source funding and aid.
Situated on the Gulf of Aden on the approach to a global shipping choke-point – the Bab El-Mandeb strait – that leads to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, Somaliland has oil deposits that have been explored by companies including Genel Energy Plc.
Somalia regards the region, which is bigger than the US state of Florida, as an integral part of its territory.
The deal is viewed “as an act of aggression against Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and as a direct threat to its maritime resources, which we will defend,” Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said in the capital, Mogadishu, after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Somalia “will continue to defend its territorial integrity regardless of any costs,” he said.
