Arab foreign ministers are set to meet remotely on Wednesday to discuss a recent deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to grant Addis Ababa access to the Red Sea coastline, a move that Mogadishu has strongly condemned.
The meeting is being held at the request of Arab League member state Somalia, which maintains that Somaliland’s deal with Ethiopia is a breach of international law and its own sovereignty.
The move to convene the meeting was supported by 12 member states, said Arab League assistant secretary general Hossam Zaki. He added that the meeting will be held virtually, rather than at the organisation’s Cairo headquarters, because of the ministers’ prior engagements.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but remains internationally unrecognised. It sits on a strategic location close to the Bay of Aden close to the southern mouth of the Red Sea.
“This unilateral move by Ethiopia poses a threat to Arab national security and Red Sea shipping,” Somalia’s ambassador to the Arab League Elias Abu Bakr said. “It’s an attempt to hurt the sovereignty and independence of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland’s president Muse Bihi Abdi signed the memorandum of understanding for access to the sea on January 1 this year. As part of the deal, Somaliland would lease a 20km stretch of its coastline to Ethiopia.
The agreement was met with protests across Somaliland, with residents divided in opinion. Some see potential economic benefits, while others fear compromising their sovereignty.
Somaliland’s defence minister Abdiqani Mohamud Ateye resigned over the deal.
He accused Ethiopia of attempting to acquire the stretch of coastline without proper negotiations. “Abiy Ahmed wants to take it without renting or owning it,” he said.
“Ethiopia remains our number one enemy,” he added during an interview broadcast on local television on Sunday.
With a population of more than 120 million, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world, and relies heavily on ports in Djibouti for foreign trade.
It is not clear what concrete action the Arab ministers can take in response to the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal, which has yet to be finalised.
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