Somalia does not recognise the territory, which broke away in 1991
Jan 02, 2024
Somaliland and Ethiopia have signed an agreement that could give Ethiopia, a landlocked country of 120 million, access to the sea, sparking fury in Somalia, which summoned its ambassador to Ethiopia on Tuesday.
The deal could see Somaliland lease a 20km stretch of its coastline to the Ethiopians.
Somalia does not recognise the breakaway region, which seceded amid a violent civil war in 1991.
On Tuesday, Somalia’s government said that it would hold an emergency meeting to discuss the decision, reasserting its territorial claim over Somaliland. During the meeting, the cabinet called the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal “null and void.”
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government said the country of about four million people has no authority to strike deals with foreign governments.
Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said the agreement included a statement that Ethiopia would recognise Somaliland as an independent country shortly, although the deal itself represents de facto recognition.
“Somalia is indivisible. Its sovereignty and territorial integrity is uncompromisable,” Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, Somalia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, said.
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A Somalian statement posted on the social media platform “X,” formerly Twitter read: “Ethiopia knows well that it can’t sign a military pact/MOU to lease a port with the regional head of state- that mandate is the prerogative of the Federal Government of Somalia.”
Somaliland, a former Italian colony, developed a distinct government in its territory during the colonial period until it was taken over by Britain during the Second World War.
After the war, it became a UN trust territory – governed by an interim UN council – following British rule, until Somalia’s independence in 1960, a period that strengthened Somali aspirations of nationhood.
Following the 1991 civil war – which followed an insurgency – it approved its own 2001 constitution, printing its currency, the Somaliland shilling.
Ethiopia lost its access to the sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993. Ethiopia has been using the port in neighbouring Djibouti for most of its imports and exports.