Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has accused Ethiopia of trying to annex Somaliland “which is part of the territory of Somalia,” through signing a sea access agreement.
Speaking at the 37th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Saturday, the President said that Ethiopia’s recent agreement with Somaliland, Somalia’s breakaway region, “is a move of annexation of another country’s territory,” which he deemed it as “unconstitutional, illegal, and unacceptable.”
On the first of January 2024, Ethiopia and Somalia had announced their agreement on exchanging of benefits in which Somaliland allows Ethiopia to have access to the sea while the later would recognize the breakaway region as an independent state.
According to Mohamud the deal “is nothing more than annexing part of Somalia to Ethiopia, and changing the borders of Somalia.” He said: “Somalia categorically objects to that.”
The President also accused Ethiopia of “misleading the world by claiming that they need an access to the sea.” “The question is not an access to the sea. The question is how Ethiopia wants access to the sea.”
Mohamud alleged that senior officers from Ethiopia’s military were in Somaliland “preparing the ground” for the territory’s annexation.
Somalia has suggested it would be prepared to go to war to stop Ethiopia from building a port in Somaliland. However, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed recently told the parliament that his government has no intention to go to war with Somaliland rather than solving the issue through diplomatic and peaceful means.
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