Somalia will hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday, state media said, after the breakaway region of Somaliland struck a “historic” deal with Ethiopia allowing Addis Ababa access to a Red Sea port.
Monday’s surprise pact announced in Addis Ababa has triggered anger in Mogadishu, which only days earlier had agreed to resume dialogue with Somaliland after years of stalemate.
The agreement with Somaliland — whose 1991 claim of independence from Somalia is not recognised internationally — gives landlocked Ethiopia long-desired access to the Red Sea, a key waterway for global trade.
“This historic agreement ensures Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea for their naval forces, reciprocated by formal recognition of the Republic of Somaliland, marking this as a significant diplomatic milestone for our country,” Somaliland’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Somali National Television said on X, formerly Twitter, that there would an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the agreement.
There has been no immediate reaction from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s office, but his predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, said on X it was a “serious concern for Somalia and the whole of Africa”.
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