Sunday 29, Sep 2024 {HMC} Toronto – Ethiopia has been mostly silent about the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with Somaliland while Somalia delved into garnering military, diplomatic and military support from the region on alleged grounds that the agreement violates its sovereignty.
Now Ethiopia is openly defending the agreement and did so at the U.N. General Assembly.
An update from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Taye Atske-Selassie, the Minister, as saying, in his speech at the U.N. , the MoU with Somaliland is ” based on existing political dispensation in Somalia…”
Ethiopia also made claims that the “objective is shared growth and prosperity in the region.” Another point that the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister made at the assembly is that similar agreements have been with other states.
Taye added that ” there is no reason for the Federal Government of Somalia to incite hostility that obviously intends to cover internal political tensions.”
The contributions of Ethiopia along with nations in the region to protect Somalia from terrorist groups and the sacrifices made in that regard was also highlighted – apparently to demonstrate that Ethiopia does not have ill-intentions against Somalia. But activists from Somalia would reduce this point to “service was not in exchange for land.”
The MoU agreement with Somaliland – the break away region of Somalia that existed as a de facto state with its own defense force and foreign relations for thirty four years now – offers Ethiopia 20 Kilometers of coastal land on a rental basis for fifty years in exchange for recognition from Ethiopia as an Independent state. There is more to the agreement but details were not released as it was not finalized. Somaliland sources have recently been reporting that the agreement is to be finalized “soon.”
The development has caused tension in the region. Calls for the two countries to de-escalate the tension does not seem to be much of a success as Somalia is focused on forging military alliances. Egypt, a country with long history of hostility towards Ethiopia and has supported many rebel groups, exploited the situation and signed a military agreement with Hassan Sheik Government in Mogadishu, and have been shipping firearms including anti-aircraft missiles. Eritrea, now noticeably hostile to Abiy Ahmed’s government, has joined the alliance. Before even the MoU , Eritrea had trained tens of thousands of forces for the Hassan Sheikh government. Egypt is poised to deploy 10,000 troops to Somalia – a move that triggered opposition to Hassan Sheik’s government.
Ethiopia sees Egypt’s planned military presence in Somalia and shipment of heavy and light weaponry as a move that risks instability in the entire region.
