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By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU (Reuters) -An Egyptian warship has delivered a second main cache of weaponry to Somalia together with anti-aircraft weapons and artillery, port and army officers mentioned on Monday, in a transfer more likely to stoke additional friction between the 2 international locations and Ethiopia.
Ties between Egypt and Somalia have grown this yr over their shared distrust of Ethiopia, prompting Cairo to ship a number of aircraft a great deal of arms to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, after the international locations signed a joint safety pact in August.
Ethiopia angered Mogadishu by agreeing a preliminary deal in January with the breakaway area of Somaliland to lease land for a port in change for attainable recognition of its independence from Somalia.
Egypt, at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s building of an enormous hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, has condemned the Somaliland deal.
The Egyptian warship started unloading the weapons on Sunday, one diplomat mentioned. Safety forces blocked off the quayside and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday as convoys carried the weapons to a defence ministry constructing and close by army bases, two port staff and two army officers advised Reuters.
Nasra Bashir Ali, an official at Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre’s workplace, posted a photograph on her X account of Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur watching because the ship was being unloaded.
Somaliland was involved the weapons may land within the unsuitable fingers, together with the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, its overseas affairs ministry mentioned in an announcement.
“A cargo of Egyptian army help has arrived within the Somali capital Mogadishu to assist and construct the capabilities of the Somali military,” Egypt’s overseas ministry mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
The cargo “reaffirms Egypt’s ongoing central position in supporting Somali efforts to develop the nationwide capabilities essential to fulfil the aspirations of the Somali folks for safety, stability, and growth,” the assertion added.
Egyptian media reported on Sunday that Egypt’s embassy in Mogadishu had warned its residents to not journey to Somaliland, as a result of safety scenario within the area.
Ethiopia has at the very least 3,000 troopers stationed in Somalia as a part of an African Union peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) preventing Islamist insurgents, whereas an estimated 5,000-7,000 troops are deployed in different areas below a bilateral settlement.
Somalia has referred to as the Somaliland deal an assault on its sovereignty and says it desires all Ethiopia’s troops to go away on the finish of the yr except Addis Ababa scraps the settlement.
Egypt has, in the meantime, supplied to contribute troops to a brand new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the African Union mentioned in July, although Cairo has not commented on the matter publicly.
Ethiopia’s authorities didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for remark, however has previously mentioned it can not stand idle whereas “different actors” are taking measures to destabilise the area.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Extra reporting by Aidan Lewis and Adam Makary in Cairo; Writing by Hereward Holland; Enhancing by Ammu Kannampilly, Ed Osmond and Timothy Heritage)
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