Egypt sends more arms to Somalia, raising tensions with Ethiopia

Egypt has decided to continue providing military aid to Somalia in an attempt to obtain an exit to the Red Sea. After sending two planeloads of weapons, an Egyptian warship earlier this week delivered another large shipment of arms to Mogadishu, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery weapons, in a move that is likely to increase regional tension.   

Somali Defence Minister Abdelkader Nour greeted the Egyptian ship as it arrived at the port of Mogadishu, praising Cairo's support for his country while warning Ethiopia without mentioning the country. ‘We know our interests and we will choose between our allies and our enemies,’ Nour said on social media.  

The Egyptians see this arms shipment to Mogadishu as a regular occurrence that will not have significant consequences. However, Ethiopia sees the Egyptian actions as directed against the country and as a kind of settling of scores because of its position on the construction and operation of the Renaissance Dam, an issue that has been causing tension between Addis Ababa and Cairo for years.  

Egypt's strategic expert and army Major General Samir Farag told Al-Arab that his country ‘is committed to supporting the Somali armed forces’, thus strengthening ‘its national security through a country that dominates the Gulf of Aden and is close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the southern Red Sea’, a point of vital importance for the Suez Canal.  

‘Egypt does not send messages to anyone or threaten anyone, and will not enter into a confrontation or clash with another country on behalf of others,’ adds Farag, who also assures that ‘it will not allow terrorist groups to threaten the national security of a country with which it has a military agreement’. 

For Egypt, sending arms to Somalia is only related to Egyptian and Somali national security. ‘We help the Somali army by providing it with all the equipment it needs to support its combat capability,’ the expert explains, recalling Somalia's fight against the Al-Shabaab terrorist group.  

However, relations between Egypt and Somalia have developed over their common position on Ethiopia. While Cairo has a dispute with Addis Ababa over the construction of the Renaissance Dam on the Nile River, tensions between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa erupted after Ethiopia signed an agreement with the breakaway Somaliland region.  

Ethiopia has maintained its position on this region, sending arms and ammunition, which the Somali foreign ministry has condemned as ‘an illegal act and a serious violation of Mogadishu's sovereignty’, expressing concern over ‘Ethiopia's actions and blatant interventions’. 

This agreement has significantly cooled bilateral ties, as Mogadishu demanded that Ethiopian forces present in the country as part of the African Union peacekeeping mission fighting the extremist Al-Shabaab movement leave before the end of the year unless Addis Ababa cancelled the agreement with the Somaliland region.  

Instead, Egypt agreed to send some 10,000 troops, half of whom will train the Somali army and security forces, and half of whom will join the new African peacekeeping force mission, which is due to begin early next year. 

Regarding the rapprochement between Egypt and Somalia, the Ethiopian government has previously stated that it ‘cannot stand idly by while other actors - in reference to Egypt - take steps to destabilise the region’. In this regard, Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed vowed that his country would ‘humiliate’ any country that threatens its sovereignty. 

Tensions have continued to rise after the Egyptian embassy in Somalia, via its Facebook page on Sunday, asked all Egyptian citizens not to travel to the Somaliland region ‘in light of the impact of the unstable security situation in the region’. 

This decision came days after the Somaliland regional government took the decision to close the Egyptian Library on its territory, asking its employees working there to leave the country, attributing it to security reasons. 

For his part, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati, in his recent meeting with the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, in Washington, indicated his country's interest in achieving stability in Somalia by supporting central state institutions and enhancing respect for Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also stressed the importance of supporting the government's efforts to achieve security, combat terrorism and reassert the state's sovereignty over all its territories.