What Berbera Port Agreement Means for the Federal Government of Somalia

[Deeq A.]

The signing of the tripartite agreement on Berbera Port made to coincide with the visit of the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia in UAE presents the Mogadishu-based government with the second sovereignty-diminishing problem. The first occurred several months after the inauguration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in February in 2017, when a Somali national was extradited to Ethiopia for allegedly being a member of ONLF. The Berbera Port Agreement will reduce the image of the Federal Government of Somalia as a key negotiator with Somaliland Government on the possibility of giving union a second chance or opting for amicable break up of Somalia into two sovereign states in the Northeast Africa. Controversial though the Port deal is the onus to prevent it from turning into a divisive issue among Somalis and Somalia's international partners is, one hand, on Somali political leaders in Hargeisa and Mogadishu , and the International Community on the other.

Source: Hiiraan Online