By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Officials in Somalia have said an Egyptian warship has delivered a second batch of major cache of weaponry to the country, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery.
According to port and military officials, a warship began the offload of the weapons on Sunday.
Security forces cordoned off the quayside and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday as convoys carried the weapons to a defence ministry building and nearby military bases, Reuters quoted two port workers and two military officials as saying.
Analysts believe that the move could likely escalate tension between the two countries and Ethiopia.
Egypt and Somalia have seen their ties grow closer this year, arising from their common mistrust of Ethiopia.
In show of solidarity, Egypt dispatched several planeloads of arms to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, after they reached a joint security agreement in August.
Somalia was provoked when Ethiopia agreed to reach a deal in January with the breakaway region, Somaliland which entails leasing land for construction of port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia.
Egypt, already at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s construction of a vast hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, condemned the Somaliland deal and agreed to support Somalia fight a common enemy.
On Monday, Nasra Bashir Ali, an official at Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre’s office, posted a photo on her X account of Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur watching as the ship was being offloaded.
Despite their strained relations, Ethiopia is contributing at least 3,000 soldiers as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) fighting Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
Heritage Times HT reports that Somalia has denounced the Ethiopian deal with Somaliland, calling it an assault on its sovereignty.
Mogadishu has also demanded the exit of Ethiopia’s troops at the end of this year unless Addis Ababa voids the agreement with Somaliland seen as a territory of Somalia.
