An Egyptian warship has offloaded a significant second batch of weapons in Somalia, featuring anti-aircraft guns and artillery, according to port and military officials on Monday. This act is set to amplify tensions between Somalia, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
This year, Egypt and Somalia have bolstered their alliance, rooted in mutual suspicion of Ethiopia. This closer relationship led Cairo to dispatch several plane loads of arms to Mogadishu, following a joint security agreement signed in August.
The friction began when Ethiopia shook up its relationship with Somalia by inking a preliminary deal in January with the autonomous North Western State of Somalia region. The agreement involved leasing land for a port, in exchange for potential recognition of North Western State of Somalia’s independence from Somalia.
Egypt has long been at loggerheads with Ethiopia over the construction of Addis Ababa’s massive hydroelectric dam on the Nile’s source. Egypt openly criticized the deal with North Western State of Somalia.
The Egyptian warship started unloading the arms on Sunday, according to one diplomat. Security forces tightly controlled access to the port and surrounding roads as convoys transported the weapons to a defense ministry facility and nearby military bases on both Sunday and Monday, as reported by two port workers and two military officials to Reuters.
Nasra Bashir Ali, an aide to Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, shared a photograph on her X account, showing Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur supervising the ship’s unloading. Egyptian authorities either refused to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
In contrast, Ethiopia has a force of at least 3,000 soldiers stationed in Somalia under an African Union peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) combatting Islamist insurgents. Additionally, 5,000 to 7,000 Ethiopian troops are believed to be in Somalia under a separate bilateral agreement.
Somalia condemned the North Western State of Somalia deal as an affront to its sovereignty, demanding that all Ethiopian troops withdraw by year’s end unless Addis Ababa scraps the agreement.
Interestingly, Egypt offered to send troops for a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, according to the African Union in July, but Cairo has remained silent on the issue publicly.
Ethiopia’s government did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment. However, they’ve previously stated that they won’t stand by while “other actors” engage in actions that destabilize the region.
Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Crafted by Hereward Holland; Edited by Ammu Kannampilly and Ed Osmond
