By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has assented to a law “nullifying” the controversial agreement between Ethiopia and the separatist region of Somaliland, a deal which grants Addis Ababa long-sought access to the Red Sea, one of the busiest ports in the world through Somaliland.
The passage of the bill on Saturday evening “is an illustration of our commitment to safeguard our unity, sovereignty & territorial integrity as per international law”, the president wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He said, “This evening, I signed the law nullifying the illegal MoU between the Gov’t of Ethiopia & Somaliland. With the support of our lawmakers & our people, this law is an illustration of our commitment to safeguard our unity, sovereignty & territorial integrity as per international law.”
Somalia had vowed to strenuously oppose by “any legal means” the port agreement between regional power Ethiopia and Somaliland.
Despite announcing its independence from Somalia in 1991, Somaliland has not been recognised internationally as an independent nation.
Somalia called the surprise pact signed on Monday an act of “aggression” and a violation of its sovereignty, and appealed for international support.
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It staunchly opposes Somaliland’s claim to independence but in reality has little say over the affairs of the de facto state, which has its own government, security forces and currency and a long coastline on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
Somaliland’s leadership has said Ethiopia would “formally recognise the Republic of Somaliland” under the deal, but this has not been confirmed by the government in Addis Ababa.
“As a Government, we have condemned and rejected the illegal infringement of Ethiopia into our national sovereignty and territorial integrity yesterday. Not an inch of Somalia can or will be signed away by anybody. Somalia belongs to the Somali people. This is final”, Mohamud said.
