Ethiopia Prime Minister highlights risks to National Sovereignty

• The country is in a dispute with Somalia over a maritime deal signed with Somaliland.
• Relations with Egypt are strained due to Ethiopia’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile.
• Ethiopia is a major contributor to ATMIS, which assists Somali forces against the Al-Shabab jihadist group.

On Sunday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned that his country would “humiliate” any nation threatening its sovereignty, as tensions escalate in the volatile Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, is embroiled in a dispute with neighboring Somalia over a maritime deal signed with the breakaway region of Somaliland. Relations with Egypt are also strained due to Ethiopia’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile.

“We will not be touched! However, we will humiliate anyone who dares to threaten us to dissuade them,” Abiy said at a Sovereignty Day ceremony in the capital Addis Ababa.

“We won’t negotiate with anyone on Ethiopia’s sovereignty and dignity,” he was quoted as saying by the official Ethiopian News Agency.

Last month, Ethiopia accused unnamed actors of attempting to “destabilize the region” after Egypt sent military equipment to Somalia following a military cooperation pact between Cairo and Mogadishu. Egypt has also proposed deploying troops to Somalia as part of a new African Union-led mission set to replace the current peacekeeping force, ATMIS, next year.

Ethiopia is a major contributor to ATMIS, which assists Somali forces in their fight against the Al-Shabab jihadist group. However, Mogadishu is enraged over a deal signed in January between Ethiopia and Somaliland that grants Addis Ababa long-sought access to the sea, viewing it as an attack on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Under the pact, Somaliland agreed to lease 20 kilometers (12 miles) of its coast to Ethiopia for 50 years. Ethiopia plans to establish a naval base and a commercial port on this coastline. In return, Somaliland has claimed that Ethiopia would grant it formal recognition, although Addis Ababa has never confirmed this.

Turkey has mediated indirect talks between Ethiopia and Somalia in an attempt to resolve the dispute, but no significant breakthrough has occurred. Somaliland, a former British protectorate with 4.5 million people, declared independence in 1993, but Mogadishu rejected this move, and the international community did not recognize it. Cairo and Addis Ababa have clashed for years, exchanging heated rhetoric over Ethiopia’s massive hydroelectric dam project, which Egypt claims threatens its fragile water security.

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