Egypt Supplies Additional Arms to Somalia as Ethiopian Tensions Escalate

The shipment reinforces “Egypt’s lasting commitment to bolstering Somalia’s national capabilities, aligning with the Somali people’s aspirations for security, stability, and development,” the ministry stated in its declaration.

Back in August, Egypt dispatched its first batch of military aid to Somalia in over forty years.

This year, the relationship between Egypt and Somalia has strengthened, largely due to their mutual suspicion of Ethiopia. This led Cairo to send multiple plane loads of weapons to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, following a joint security agreement signed in August.

According to a diplomat cited by the Reuters news agency, the Egyptian warship began unloading the weapons on Sunday. Security forces closed off the docks and surrounding streets on Sunday and Monday as convoys transported the weapons to a Defense Ministry location and nearby military bases, two port workers and two military officials told Reuters.

Nasra Bashir Ali, an official from Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre’s office, shared a photo on her X account of Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur overseeing the unloading process.

Mogadishu was angered by Ethiopia’s preliminary agreement in January with North Western State of Somalia, a breakaway region, to lease land for a port in return for potential recognition of North Western State of Somalia’s independence from Somalia.

Adding fuel to the fire, Ethiopia has deployed at least 3,000 soldiers in Somalia as part of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) peacekeeping initiative. Estimates also suggest an additional 5,000-7,000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in various regions under a separate bilateral agreement.

Somalia has declared the North Western State of Somalia agreement a violation of its sovereignty and demands the removal of Ethiopian troops by the year’s end unless Addis Ababa cancels the deal.

Meanwhile, Egypt, engaged in a long-standing dispute with Ethiopia over the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Nile’s headwaters, has condemned the North Western State of Somalia accord.

In January, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stated, “Egypt stands with Somalia, side by side.”

“Egypt will not allow anyone to jeopardize Somalia or compromise its security,” el-Sisi remarked during a press conference with the visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

In July, the African Union revealed that Cairo has also proposed contributing troops to a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, although Egypt has yet to make a public statement on this issue.