Maritime Memorandum of Understanding “to Curtail Ethiopia’s Reliance on Djibouti and Berbera”

[Deeq A.]

President Bihi kept President Geelle and President Hassan Sheikh in the dark about his intentions to sign a maritime Memorandum of Understanding with Ethiopia.

Mogadishu (PP Special Report) — One month after signing a maritime Memorandum of Understanding with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, President of Somaliland Administration Muse Bihi Abdi is waking up to the economic implications of the MoU should it get consummated as an agreement in violation of the sovereignty of Somalia.

For Ethiopia a naval base in a twenty-kilometre Somali littoral district will upend the Berbera Corridor project that Somaliland looks upon as a pathway to Ethiopia’s mooted diversification away from the reliance on Djibouti and Berbera Ports. A fifty-year lease of the coastal district will help Ethiopia to realise its aim to put its land-locked status behind itself.

Upon returning to Hargeisa President Bihi said  that official signing of the maritime Memorandum of Understanding “is subject to Ethiopia granting Somaliland diplomatic recognition” regardless of the Somaliland securing a sovereign seat at the United Nations.

The Ethiopian government said that it would undertake an in-depth study on recognising Somaliland as a country. Its diplomatically cautious remarks show that Ethiopia, heavily dependent on donors’ aid and foreign direct investment, does not want to be viewed as a pariah state against international norms.

Abiy Ahmed sees the illegal maritime Memorandum of Understanding as an opportunity to wean Ethiopia off its reliance on Djibouti Port and Berbera Port.

The breadth of coastal territory that the Somaliland President wants to illegally lease can enable Ethiopia to develop a port for merchant ships. Maritime commerce experts reckon that Ethiopia will be able to reduce by 40% and 70% of its imports via Djibouti and Berbera in three years after the lease starts.

Supporters of President Muse Bihi Abdi defend the maritime Memorandum of Understanding as an economic bonanza for Somaliland whose Berbera Port “will see an 80% increase of imports destined for Ethiopia”. Those details were mentioned in the MoU nor is it binding given the unenforceability of Ethiopian imports quota via Berbera Port that Somaliland leaders expect to be a part of the maritime MoU.

The Presidents of Somalia, Djibouti and Somaliland Administration met in in Djibouti in December 2023 in what an analyst in Mogadishu described as “a self-sabotaging political gambit that puts a question mark over the political judgments of the three leaders who have given Abiy Ahmed an unnecessary political advantage over Somalia and Djibouti”. Mogadishu, Djibouti and Hargeisa seek the cooperation of Abiy Ahmed in different ways: Mogadishu and Djibouti urge Ethiopia to retract the MoU, whereas Hargeisa looks forward to gaining a diplomatic recognition from Ethiopia that is not forthcoming due to the African Union Charter articles on the sovereignty of member states. 

© Puntland Post, 2024

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