Somaliland allowed Ethiopia to establish a military base on its territory
In exchange for a 50-year lease of a military base for the Ethiopian navy, Ethiopia will become the first foreign country to officially recognize Somaliland.
The self-proclaimed independent state of Somaliland gave Ethiopia the opportunity to establish a naval base on its territory and use seaports for commercial purposes in exchange for its recognition as a sovereign state, writes TASS .
"This historic agreement allows Ethiopia to go to sea for its naval forces in exchange for the official recognition of the Republic of Somaliland, which is an important diplomatic achievement for our country," the Addis Standard newspaper of Ethiopia reported.
Earlier , on January 1, it was reported that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Musa Bihi Abdi signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure access to Ethiopian seaports.
In exchange for a 50-year lease of a military base for the Ethiopian navy, Ethiopia will be the first foreign country to officially recognize the Republic of Somaliland.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey expressed concern over the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation and Cooperation between Ethiopia and the unrecognized breakaway state of Somalia.
Somalia's Cabinet will hold an emergency meeting to discuss an agreement between Ethiopia and self-proclaimed Somaliland on access to the Red Sea port of Berbera, Somali news agency SONA reports.
Somaliland announced last September that it would not hold talks on reunification with Somalia. And in December, officials from Somalia and the unrecognized Somaliland met in neighboring Djibouti to resume talks on Somaliland's political status. The delegation of Somalia was headed by the president of the country, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, and the delegation of Somaliland was headed by the unrecognized head of state, Musa Bihi Abdi.
After the fall of the dictatorial regime of Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia practically ceased to exist as a single state. The international community recognizes the federal government as the country's sole legitimate authority, but it controls the capital Mogadishu and several other areas. The rest of Somalia is under the control of unrecognized state entities or is self-governing. In particular, the unrecognized Republic of Somaliland is located in the northern part of the country, and the Puntland region, which declared autonomy in 1998, is located in the eastern part.
