As if the situation in the Red Sea area weren’t complicated enough already, Egypt issued a not so veiled threat against fellow BRICS member Ethiopia over the weekend regarding the latter’s attempt to develop port facilities in Somalia’s breakaway province of Somaliland:
Since 1991, the territory has been governed by democratically elected governments that seek international recognition as the government of the Republic of Somaliland.[17][18][19][20] The central government maintains informal ties with some foreign governments, who have sent delegations to Hargeisa.[21][22][23] Somaliland is currently recognised by the Republic of China (Taiwan)[24] and hosts representative offices from several other countries, most notably Ethiopia.[25] However, Somaliland's self-proclaimed independence has not been officially recognised by any UN member state or international organisation.[21][26][27] It is the largest unrecognised state in the world by de facto controlled land area.
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On 1 January 2024, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland, where Ethiopia will lease the port of Berbera on the Red Sea, and a 20-kilometre stretch of Red Sea coastline, for 20 years, in exchange for eventual recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. If this agreement is honoured, Ethiopia would become the first United Nations member state to recognise the breakaway nation.[190][191]
From the AP yesterday:
Sheikh Mohamud, the Somali president, rejected the deal as a violation of international law, saying: “We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised.”
He arrived in Egypt this weekend to rally support for his government. He met with the Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Al-Azhar mosque’s Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb.
Egypt is at odds with Ethiopia over a controversial hydroelectric dam Ethiopia has built on the Nile river’s main tributary. The two countries — along with Sudan — have been trying for over a decade to reach a negotiated agreement on the filling and operation of the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam.
The latest round of talks last month ended without a deal and Cairo and Addis Ababa traded blame for the failure.
Negotiators have said key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs, and how the countries will resolve any future disputes. Ethiopia rejects binding arbitration at the final stage.
The dam is on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border and Egypt fears it will have a devastating effect on its water and irrigation supply downstream unless Ethiopia takes its needs into account.
I doubt that Egypt particularly cares all that much about the relative merits of the “right” of Somaliland to develop a port facility on its coast for the benefit of landlocked Ethiopia, but is more than happy to use this “infringement” on Somali sovereignty as an excuse to apply more pressure on Ethiopia to negotiate a more equitable deal on the water rights to the Blue Nile, which obviously is a life-or-death matter to Egypt.