Ethiopia’s foreign minister has warned that arms shipments and ammunition supplied to Somalia could exacerbate conflict and be diverted to terrorists, Ethiopia’s state news agency reported on Tuesday.
His statement came a day after an Egyptian warship unloaded heavy weaponry in the capital Mogadishu, the second arms shipment in the space of a month following the inking of a joint security pact by Egypt and Somalia in August.
Landlocked Ethiopia, which has thousands of troops stationed in neighboring Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgents, has fallen out with the Mogadishu government over its plans to build a port in the Republic of Somaliland.
The spat has drawn Somalia closer to Egypt, which has quarreled with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s construction of a vast hydroelectric dam on the headwaters of the Nile River.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Taye Astke Selassie said he was concerned that the supply of ammunition by “external forces would further exacerbate the fragile security and would end up in the hands of terrorists in Somalia,” Ethiopia News Agency reported.
There was no immediate response from Somalia’s government to Taye’s remarks.
In response to the shipment, the government of Somaliland expressed serious concern.
Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “We are deeply alarmed by the transfer of these weapons, particularly as the Mogadishu administration lacks the capacity to effectively manage or safeguard such a significant military cache.”
The military aid comes amid complex regional dynamics.
“The potential for weapons landing in the wrong hands is high. Al Shabaab is a major beneficiary and in 2023 harvested massive quantities of weapons by conducting raids on enemy (bases),” said Rashid Abdi, an analyst with the Sahan Research think-tank.
The U.N. Security Council lifted its arms embargo in December, more than 30 years after it was first imposed as Somalia plunged into civil war.
In January, Ethiopia agreed to lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastline from Somaliland—a former British colony that claims independence and has operated with effective autonomy since 1991—in exchange for possible recognition of its sovereignty.
In response, Somalia threatened to expel by the end of the year Ethiopia’s troops, who are there as part of the peacekeeping mission and under bilateral agreements, if the port deal was not scrapped.
