Somalia Rejects Mediation With Ethiopia Over Somaliland Port Deal

Facts

• The Somali Foreign Ministry stated on Thursday that Mogadishu will not engage in mediation with Addis Ababa unless Ethiopia retracts its controversial deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland. The agreement would give access to the sea to the country that has been landlocked since Eritrea declared independence in 1993.¹
• Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Jan. 1, Ethiopia would be given a 50-year lease to establish commercial maritime services as well as a naval base on the strategically important Gulf of Aden, with Somaliland getting a stake in Ethiopian Airlines in exchange.²
• Somalia is particularly concerned about this agreement as, in return, Ethiopia is also expected to recognize Somaliland as an independent state. Representatives of the African Union (AU), the EU, and the US who were attending an emergency meeting of a regional bloc on Thursday recognized Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity — including Somaliland — adding that this crisis threatens stability in the already volatile Horn of Africa.³
• Earlier that day, Ethiopia 'categorically' rejected a resolution from the Arab League Ministerial Council in support of Somalia, arguing that such a statement was an attempt to meddle in its internal affairs and sovereignty.⁴
• As tensions between the Horn of Africa nations have mounted, Somalia turned away a plane transporting Ethiopian officials to Somaliland on Wednesday on claims that the flight had no clearance to enter its airspace. Regular flights between the two countries are reportedly operating as usual.⁵
• Once a British colony, the now-de-facto-independent — but internationally unrecognized — Somaliland voluntarily united with Somalia in 1960 but broke away in 1991. Tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia run deep, with resentments remaining from a conflict over disputed territory that occurred in the 1970s, and Ethiopia's 2006 intervention in Somalia to dispose Islamists.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Bloomberg, ³Associated Press, ⁴Addis Standard, ⁵BBC News and ⁶The Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by All Africa. Neighboring countries, especially Somalia, should come to their senses and realize that granting Ethiopia sea access would be in the best interest of the entire continent, as it would promote stability and unity in the region as well as boost its economic growth. It's outrageous that a peaceful and mutually beneficial agreement has been met with such a hostile response.
• Narrative B, as provided by African Arguments. When Ethiopian officials claim their country has the right to own access to the sea, they are merely replicating a narrative that is as old as modern Ethiopia itself — and that has a lot in common with Nazi Germany's imperialist 'Lebensraum' notion. Given that international law doesn't recognize ports and territorial waters as subject to the legal title of a state, Addis Ababa must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors.

Predictions