Ethiopia Rejects Mogadishu’s Deal on MoU with Somaliland
This week, the Somalia Federal Government took steps to prevent the agreement between Somaliland and Ethiopia by approaching external powers to thwart the Somaliland MoU with Ethiopia.
Diplomatic sources quoted by Ethiopian media report that President Hassan Sheikh’s administration has extended an offer to Ethiopia for a free port that it can utilize for both military and economic endeavors.
According to this report, which we cited from the Ethiopian media, the Addis Ababa administration was instead urged to revoke its recognition of Somaliland by the Somali government, aided by a third nation whose name has been withheld.
The source went on to say that the Ethiopian government’s officials in the meeting were not amused by the proposal from the Mogadishu administration and that they promptly conveyed their country’s stance on the Somaliland accord, characterizing it as inviolable.
This move is a part of the Somali government’s futile attempt to object and protest the Memorandum of Understanding between Somaliland and Ethiopia.
The president of Somaliland has previously stated in public that he would offer the Ethiopian government a number of ports in exchange for the termination of the agreement with Somaliland, but this most recent move has revealed the diplomatic shortcomings of Hassan Sheikh’s administration since the signing of an agreement in Addis Ababa in January by the prime minister of Ethiopia and the president of Somaliland.
In exchange for Ethiopia becoming the first nation to recognize and acknowledge Somaliland’s independence, the MoU allows Ethiopia to rent its naval presence in the Red Sea via the coast of Somaliland.
In response to the deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia, the Somalian government recently entered into defensive and economic agreements with the Turkish government, which would have the only right to utilize Somalia’s maritime resources.
The world is starting to take notice of Somaliland, and it’s not only the Ethiopian government that is pushing for this recognition—it’s the political powers that shape and influence the modern political world.
According to senior officials in Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, last Friday on a phone call, the UK government and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government discussed Somaliland’s recognition.