Mogadishu, Jan 3 (EFE).- The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a bloc of eight East African countries, on Wednesday called for a peaceful resolution of tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia over a pact between Addis Ababa and the self-proclaimed independent Somali region of Somaliland that would allow Ethiopian access to the Red Sea.
In the statement, the executive secretary of the regional economic and integration organization, Workneh Gebeyehu, expressed his “deep concern” and said he recongnizes “the potential implications for regional stability” of the pact signed on Monday.
“The Executive Secretary urges IGAD leaders to be seized, and appeals to the two sisterly countries to collaborate towards a peaceful and amicable resolution of the situation” said the statement.
The Somali government rejected the message, stressing its “dissatisfaction and disappointment” that IGAD “falls short of condemning the Ethiopian Government of violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.”
According to the Ethiopian government, the memorandum of understanding, signed on Jan. 1, gives Ethiopia military and commercial maritime services in the Gulf of Aden through a lease agreement and gives Somaliland an equivalent share in the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines.
Meanwhile, Somaliland’s president, Muse Bihi Abdi, claimed that Ethiopia would internationally recognize it as an independent country in exchange for a 20-kilometer maritime access on its coast for Ethiopian naval forces for a period of 50 years.
Addis Ababa, however, qualified these statements, stating that the agreement only “includes provisions for the Ethiopian government to make an in-depth assessment towards taking a position regarding the efforts of Somaliland to gain recognition.”
After an emergency meeting on Tuesday, the Somali government called the pact “illegal” and decided to recall its ambassador to Ethiopia.
The European Union, for its part, stressed in another statement on Tuesday “the importance of respecting the unity, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity” of Somalia, arguing this is “key for the peace and stability of the entire Horn of Africa region”.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country with about 120 million people, had access to the Red Sea when it formed a federation in the 1950s with Eritrea, which it annexed in 1962.
But it lost its access to the sea in 1993, when Eritrea gained independence after a three-decade war.
Addis Ababa is now land-locked and depends on the port of neighboring Djibouti for its exports and imports.
Somaliland, a British protectorate until 1960, is not internationally recognized, although it has its own constitution, currency, and government, and even better economic development and political stability than Somalia.
The region declared its separation from Somalia, a former Italian colony, in 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barré was overthrown.
On Dec. 28, the presidents of Somalia and Somaliland met in Djibouti and agreed to resume talks after several unsuccessful attempts, a goal that could be affected by the diplomatic crisis that erupted this week.
Somaliland is currently experiencing a political crisis after Abdi decided to extend his mandate for two years, which should have expired last November, and canceled the holding of regional elections, now scheduled for November 2024. EFE
mg-cee/ics
