Somalia annuls port lease deal between breakaway Somaliland region and Ethiopia
Somalia has cancelled a controversial agreement between Somaliland, a breakaway region of the country, and landlocked Ethiopia, that would have allowed Addis Ababa access to the Red Sea.
When the deal was signed last week, it provoked fury in Somalia, which does not recognise Somaliland’s independence.
The region declared its separation from the country in 1991 after a bloody insurgency in the 1980s, which culminated in a full-scale civil war. Somalia said the deal represented a “blatant disregard for international norms” of its sovereignty, and that Somaliland had no right to sign agreements with foreign countries.
Under the agreement, Ethiopia was to get access to a 20km strip of coast around the port of Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, on a 50-year lease.
In return, Ethiopia committed to become the first country to recognise Somaliland’s independence.
Ethiopia currently has limited access to the sea, through a land corridor to Djibouti.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud officially invalidated the agreement on Saturday evening.
In a post on social media, Mr Mohamud declared the agreement as “illegal”.
He signed a law that repealed the deal on Saturday evening.
Somalia has said the sea access deal breaches its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
When the agreement was signed, Somalia’s government said it would defend and protect its autonomy, and recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia for urgent consultation.
The President did not disclose specific details regarding the content of the new law or the timeline of its approval by the Somali Parliament.
Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed said in October that Ethiopia’s existence was “tied to the Red Sea”. If countries in the Horn of Africa “plan to live together in peace, we have to find a way to mutually share with each other in a balanced manner”, he added.