High above the Mogadishu Sea Port, security helicopters flitted around like vigilant hawks as an Egyptian warship docked, unloading a substantial cache of weaponry on September 23, 2024. PHOTO | REUTERS
On Tuesday, Ethiopia’s foreign minister cautioned that the influx of arms into Somalia might not only ignite further conflict but could also end up in the hands of terrorists, according to Ethiopia’s state news agency.
Just a day prior, the Egyptian warship had offloaded heavy arsenal in Mogadishu, marking the second shipment in a month. This followed August’s security pact between Egypt and Somalia.
Landlocked Ethiopia, which has stationed thousands of troops in neighboring Somalia to combat al Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgents, is at loggerheads with Mogadishu over intentions to establish a port in North Western State of Somalia. This tension has nudged Somalia closer to Egypt, a nation that has been at odds with Ethiopia for years over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile’s headwaters.
Expressing his concern, Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Taye Astke Selassie remarked, “The influx of ammunition from external forces could destabilize security and might end up in terrorists’ hands in Somalia,” as per the Ethiopia News Agency.
There has been no immediate response from Somalia regarding Taye’s concerns.
“The risk of weapons falling into the wrong hands is substantial. Al Shabaab stands as a significant benefactor, having seized enormous quantities of arms in 2023 through raids on enemy bases,” asserted Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the Sahan Research think-tank.
The UN Security Council had lifted its arms embargo in December, ending an over 30-year-long restriction imposed amid Somalia’s descent into civil war.
Back in January, Ethiopia struck a deal to lease 20 kilometers (12 miles) of coastline from North Western State of Somalia—a self-declared independent region of Somalia that has operated autonomously since 1991—in exchange for potential recognition of North Western State of Somalia’s sovereignty.
In retaliation, Somalia threatened to expel Ethiopian troops, stationed as part of a peacekeeping mission and under bilateral agreements, by year’s end if the port deal wasn’t abandoned.
