The UK reaffirmed its support for Somalia and voiced alarm on Thursday over events that followed an agreement between Ethiopia and the separatist area of Somalia known as Somaliland.
“The UK is concerned by escalating tensions in the Horn of Africa. We reaffirm our full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia,” the British Embassy in Somalia wrote on X.
It advocated moderation and communication in order to settle disputes amicably. In the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Monday, President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) allowing Ethiopia access to the Red Sea through the port of Berbera in Somaliland.
Somalia rejected the agreement, claiming that it violated national sovereignty and posed a threat to good neighbourliness.
Abiy’s office hailed the pact as “historic,” saying it is “intended to serve as a framework for the multisectoral partnership between the two sides.”
Following the Eritrean War of Independence, which lasted from 1961 to 1991, Ethiopia lost its ports on the Red Sea early in the 1990s.
Following Eritrea’s independence from Ethiopia in 1991, two distinct countries were created. Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea and important ports as a result of the split.
Since then, Ethiopia has been landlocked, which has hampered its capacity to carry out effective marine trade.
