The recognition of a nation costs a door to the sea. Ethiopia and Somaliland, a region in northern Somalia that proclaimed itself independent in 1991 but does not enjoy international recognition, signed on Monday an agreement as historic as it is slippery in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy and Somaliland President, Muse Bihi, agreed that the wayward region will allow the naval and commercial use of 20 kilometers of coastline for 50 extendable years, in addition to the port of Berbera, in exchange for the Ethiopian government undertaking the construction of infrastructure and recognizing “in due course” to Somaliland as a full-fledged nation.
The memorandum of understanding – the written formalization of an agreement without legal or binding commitments – “will strengthen the security and economic and political relations” of Ethiopia, according to the Addis Ababa executive, who described the agreement as “historic.”
Rightly so: the Ethiopian giant, with more than 100 million inhabitants, thus gains a gateway to the Red Sea, through which 12% of global trade passes and the shortest route between the West and Asia, after losing it in 1993 with independence. of Eritrea, whose territory it had annexed in 1962 after years of federation.
Until now, Ethiopian maritime trade entered the country through Djibouti. Recent weeks have shown the importance of the area when the Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group supported by Iran, attacked commercial shipping companies sailing to the Suez Canal or the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in solidarity, the gang noted, with the Palestinian people and in protest against Israel's bombings in Gaza.
Several cargo transportation companies suspended or modified their routes in the area and caused a crisis that affected the world economy.
For Somaliland and Ethiopia, the pact is a word of honor diplomatic step. On the Somaliland side, its president confirmed that the agreement will allow its Ethiopian neighbor the construction of a maritime military base at a point to be determined on the coast and the commercial use of the port of Berbera and that in exchange his government will have shares in Ethiopian Airlines or the national telecommunications company, but he stopped short of underlining the crux of the matter: “God willing, Ethiopia will be the first country to recognize Somaliland,” he said.
The recognition as a country of this region the size of two Catalunyas, which functions with a solid government, its own passport, currency, flag or anthem but which only recognizes the wayward region of Taiwan, is a milestone but is not without risks in the turbulent area of East Africa.
The first tremors did not wait long. The government of Somalia, which does not recognize the autonomy of a territory it considers its own, erupted in anger and yesterday declared the agreement “null and void” and considered the pact an “act of aggression” and an impediment to “peace and stability".
Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Bare threatened to go further. “I want to make it clear that we are determined to defend our country. No part of our land, our sea or our air can be violated and we will defend it by any legal means.”
Although Somaliland is a functional territory while Somalia is a country plagued by violence and jihadism by Al Shabab, the international community is reluctant to recognize its independence to avoid a domino effect and fuel aspirations of other African states in limbo such as the Sahara. Western or even Somali balkanization, since provinces such as Puntland or Jubaland also have independence ambitions.
