An Egyptian warship has delivered a significant cache of weapons to Somalia, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery, port and military officials reported on Monday. This marks the second major arms shipment from Egypt to Somalia this year, following a joint security agreement signed in August between the two nations.
The move is expected to further strain relations between Somalia and Ethiopia, which have soured over Ethiopia’s preliminary deal with the breakaway Somaliland region. The deal, struck in January, offered Ethiopia access to a port in Somaliland in exchange for possible recognition of the region’s independence, a development Somalia has condemned as an assault on its sovereignty.
Egypt, long at odds with Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile, has supported Somalia in response to the Somaliland agreement. The arms transfer comes after several planeloads of Egyptian weaponry were sent to Mogadishu earlier this year.
According to officials, security was tight as the ship began unloading weapons on Sunday, with military convoys transporting the arms to Somalia’s Defence Ministry and nearby bases. A Somali government official shared photos online showing Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur overseeing the unloading process.
Ethiopia, which has thousands of troops stationed in Somalia under the African Union Transition Mission (ATMIS), has expressed concerns about external forces destabilising the region. Somalia has demanded that Ethiopia withdraw its troops by the end of the year unless it cancels the Somaliland agreement.
Egypt has reportedly offered to contribute troops to a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, although no public comment has been made on the matter by Cairo.