The dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia continues, with Mogadishu claiming the deal has violated its territorial integrity.
Somalia said on Thursday there was no room for mediation in a dispute with Ethiopia unless Addis Ababa canceled a controversial deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland.
Tensions in the Horn of Africa have risen after landlocked Ethiopia reached a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland on January 1 giving it access to the sea.
“There is no room for mediation unless Ethiopia retracts its illegal memorandum of understanding and reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia,” the country's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its official social media accounts. .
The comment comes after the African Union's conflict resolution body on Wednesday discussed the crisis and called on the two countries “to exercise restraint, de-escalate and engage in meaningful dialogue to find a peaceful resolution to the matter.”
The eight-country trading bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), will also hold an extraordinary summit in Uganda on Thursday on the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as the conflict in Sudan. The four countries are part of the bloc, along with South Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya and Eritrea.
Access to the sea
Somalia says the pact has violated its sovereignty and territorial integrity and has called for international support. Somaliland is a former British protectorate facing the Gulf of Aden that declared independence from Somalia in 1991, a move not recognized by the international community.
Under the Jan. 1 deal, Somaliland agreed to lease 20 kilometers (12 miles) of its coastline for 50 years to Ethiopia, which wants to establish a naval base and commercial port on the coast.
For years, Ethiopia, with a population of about 100 million people, has sought access to the sea after Eritrea broke away from Addis Ababa and formally declared independence in 1993 after a three-decade war. The Horn of Africa country currently depends on neighboring Djibouti for most of its maritime trade.
In Ethiopia, where for much of 2023 the government highlighted the economic need for a seaport and even subtly hinted at the possibility of invading Eritrea to access the Red Sea, the deal is being presented as a victory.
