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Sunday January 7, 2024
Mogadishu (HOL) – Federal lawmakers and ministers from the Awdal region vehemently opposed the sea access deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland following a meeting in Mogadishu on Sunday.
“Not an inch of Somalia can or will be signed away by anybody. Somalia belongs to the Somali people. We call on the people of the northern regions not to accept the deal, which allows the Ethiopian government to get a portion of Somalia’s sea,” said Minister Hagaa, who spoke to the media after the meeting.
They urged all Somali people, especially those in the northern regions, to unite in defence of their land and sea. However, the rejection by federal lawmakers and ministers of the Ethiopia-Somaliland Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) came as protests against the agreement took place in Burao on Saturday, with another protest occurring in Lughaya on Sunday.
Last night, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a law nullifying an agreement by the breakaway Somaliland region to grant Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in return for recognition as an independent nation.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s stated ambition to secure access to the Red Sea is a source of tension between the Horn of Africa nation and its neighbours and has raised concerns of a fresh conflict in the region.
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