Somalia’s president on Tuesday rejected an agreement signed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to give landlocked Ethiopia access to its coast, calling it a violation of international law. “We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told a joint session of Somalia’s federal parliament. Somaliland, a region strategically located by the Gulf of Aden, broke away from Somalia in 1991 as the country collapsed into warlord-led conflict. Somaliland’s president said the agreement also included a clause that Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland as an independent country in the near future. Somalia’s president said Somalia and Ethiopia share a long history and that embracing a peaceful coexistence is the only way to ensure lasting peace in the region.

Source: Ethiopian News January 03, 2024 18:34 UTC