Brussels 08.07.2024 The EU diplomacy has called for de-escalation in the region of Horn of Africa, namely after the heated exchange between Somaliland, and Djibouti leaders. (Image above: illustration)

https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-259198

The presidents of Djibouti and Somaliland have accused each other of destabilisation. Djibouti is actively training new republican guard recruits and denies any vile intentions towards its neighbour, but is having trouble accepting the deal Somaliland signed with Ethiopia in January.

The exact text of the deal signed by the leaders of Ethiopia and Somaliland has not been made public, which is fueling tensions, as there are differing presumptions of what the two sides agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
An MoU is a statement of cementing the positions of the partners, rather than a legally binding agreement, however what seems clear is that Somaliland is ready to grant Ethiopia access to the Gulf of Aden for commercial traffic through a port, without mentioning an exact location.
There is also a military aspect to the Somaliland has said it could lease a section of the coast to Ethiopia’s navy, a detail which has been confirmed later by Addis Ababa.

In return, Somaliland would get a share in Ethiopia Airlines, the country’s successful national carrier.
However where things get complicated is whether Ethiopia said it would recognise Somaliland as an independent state – a gesture which no other country has done in the 30 years since the former British protectorate said it was taking distance from Somalia.

On the day of the signing, Somaliland’s President Muse Bihi Abdi said the agreement included a section stating that Ethiopia would recognise Somaliland as an independent country at some point in the future.
Ethiopia has not confirmed this. Instead, in its attempt to clarify what was in the MoU, the government on 3 January said the deal included “provisions… to make an in-depth assessment towards taking a position regarding the efforts of Somaliland to gain recognition”.

Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, says that soon Ethiopia will become the first state to grant it recognition. In return, it will give its landlocked neighbor access to the sea.

The deal has outraged Somalia officials, which describes it as an act of “aggression”. In April it expelled the Ethiopian Ambassador. Now it is threatening to do the same to more than 8,000 Ethiopian soldiers who are stationed on its soil to fight al-Shabab, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda.
In spite of that in Somaliland, a de facto state with its own government, flag, army, currency and courts, the aspirations are high. “We are struggling for our independence, as every other country in the continent…has done,” says Muse Bihi Abdi, the president of Somaliland.