Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Thursday he had “no interest in getting involved in a war” as tensions mount over his deal with a breakaway Somali region.
In January, land-locked Ethiopia signed an agreement with the separatist region of Somaliland to lease a stretch of its coastline for 50 years.
The deal sparked outrage in Somalia, which has refused to accept Somaliland’s independence since it was declared in 1991.
Speaking to his parliament on Thursday, Abiy described the deal as a “development agreement” based on its long-standing need for maritime access.
“We have demanded access to the sea and that is what it is all about. We will not take offensive action, but we will defend ourselves effectively if something happens,” he said.
Somalia has described Ethiopia’s deal with Somaliland as “illegal” and a violation of its sovereignty.
It expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in April and said that Ethiopian troops will be excluded from a new African Union peacekeeping force against Islamist Al-Shabaab insurgents that is due to be deployed on January 1.
Somalia has also built closer military ties with Egypt, another rival of Ethiopia — raising fears of conflict in the already unstable Horn of Africa region.
Ethiopia, which has the second largest population in Africa with 120 million people, lost access to the sea when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.
© Agence France-Presse
