Did Egypt bail out of Somaliland? Or is Biixi playing a double game?

AbdiGeedi

To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Ethiopia lands in Somaliland with goodies, as Egypt checks out.

An Ethiopian delegation led by Finance minister Ahmed Shide has arrived in Hargeisa the capital of Somaliland to discuss bilateral relations.

This just a week after a team from Egypt held talks with the Somaliland government mooting plans to set up a military base in the north west regions of the country, a move that has seemingly not gone down well with authorities in Addis Ababa who are in a diplomatic spat with Cairo over the River Nile.

Somaliland has offered to mediate between Ethiopia and Egypt in their friction over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam along the Blue Nile, arguing that the impasse can be amicably solved through dialogue.

Somaliland Deputy Foreign Affairs minister Liban Youssouf Osman said the two nations should consider having a dialogue for the sake of unity.

Ethiopia is Somaliland’s key ally in the horn of Africa. The two countries have partnered with the DP World and the government of the United Arab Emirates to rebuild the port of Berbera which plays a key role in the maritime connections between the horn and the middle east.

Ethiopia owns 19 per cent shares of the Berbera Port, Somaliland has 30 per cent while DP World enjoys a 51 per cent stake.

The UAE and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development Construction are also building a 250-kilometre dual carriageway between the city of Berbera and the Ethiopian border town of Togwajale.

While there has been suspicion Ethiopia is angling towards Somalia especially in the talks between the two countries initiated by the United States and hosted by Djibouti, the two (Ethiopia and Somaliland) remain key development partners.

The last fortnight has seen Somaliland go full throttle to build new alignments, signing a pact that has seen the country enter into diplomatic partnership with Taiwan and the latest agreements with Egypt as it continues to push for international recognition.

The new relationships have not gone down well with China on one side who are unhappy with the deals with Taiwan and Ethiopia over the indulgence with Egypt.

But Somaliland says Egypt is crucial to her international recognition quest. “Egypt can play a major role in our international recognition, as it is a major country in Africa and the Arab World, which can help push our case for recognition in both the African Union and Arab League,” Liban Youssouf Osman

The Ethiopian delegation will therefore be out to stamp itself as Somaliland’s key partner in the attractive Horn of Africa region.

Somaliland remains internationally unrecognised, but the traffic into the country remains on a high.


Odindo Ayieko

22nd July 2020


 

The Somali Caesar

King of Sarcasm• Location: Rent free in your head
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I think Bixi is playing double game here I’m not sure what his objective is but i think he’s using Egypt as leverage against Ethiopia.

As it’s very clear Abiy Ahmed was backing Somalia over Somaliland in the Djibouti meeting.
 
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AbdiGeedi

To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
I agree it is a double game on the part of Villa Hargeisa to send a message to Addis Ababa. The international exposure is welcome as well. It is interesting to watch the regional chess game to play out right in front of our eyes. Eritrea's Afwerki goes on two-day visit to Cairo, Egyptian delegation arrives to Somaliland. As a response, Abiy flies to Asmara to meet with Afwerki and sends his Finance Minister Ahmed Shide, who is an ethnic Somali, to Hargeisa.

I believe Ethiopia is ready to make concessions to Eritrea and butter up a better offer to Somaliland vis-a-vis Egypt's plans. I bet Biixi requested Shide to not push for reunification talks again.

By the looks of it, Egypt has given up on confronting the dam issue and engaged in theatrics for domestic consumption. As one Arab analyst said in Egypt there is public diplomacy on one side and private reality on the other side.

There is also a possibility that Israel is financing and pushing Egypt to get a foothold in Somaliland under the guise of the dam politics. It is either Israel doesn't want to rely on the Saudi Arabia/UAE in its geopolitical goals concerning the Gulf against Iran and now Turkey or wants to be a silent player in the Horn of Africa developments. The talks of $350 millions are a dead giveaway since Egypt has no such money to throw around and itself is waiting for the IMF and the World Bank's assistance.
 
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