Egypt delivers more weapons to Somalia amid rising tensions with Ethiopia

Ties between Egypt and Somalia have grown this year over their shared mistrust of Ethiopia.

An Egyptian warship has delivered a second major cache of weaponry to Somalia including anti-aircraft guns and artillery, officials said, in a move likely to stoke further friction between the two countries and Ethiopia.

“A shipment of Egyptian military aid has arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu to support and build the capabilities of the Somali army,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The shipment “reaffirms Egypt’s ongoing central role in supporting Somali efforts to develop the national capabilities necessary to fulfil the aspirations of the Somali people for security, stability, and development,” the ministry said in the statement.

Egypt delivered its first round of military aid to Somalia in more than four decades in August.

Ties between Egypt and Somalia have grown this year over their shared mistrust of Ethiopia, prompting Cairo to send several planeloads of arms to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, after the countries signed a joint security pact in August.

The Egyptian warship began unloading the weapons on Sunday, the Reuters news agency reported one diplomat as saying. Security forces blocked off the quayside and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday as convoys carried the weapons to a Defence Ministry building and nearby military bases, two port workers and two military officials told Reuters.

Nasra Bashir Ali, an official at Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre’s office, posted a photo on her X account of Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur watching as the ship was being unloaded.

“We know our own interests, and the choice of our allies is our decision to make, not to be dictated by others”.

Defence Minister @Amohamednur pic.twitter.com/bCKyelaUp3

— Nasra Bashir Ali (@NasraBashiir) September 23, 2024

Ethiopia angered Mogadishu by agreeing to a preliminary deal in January with the breakaway region of Somaliland to lease land for a port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia.

Ethiopia also has at least 3,000 soldiers stationed in Somalia as part of a peacekeeping initiative called the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS),  which is working to suppress an armed uprising, while an estimated 5,000-7,000 soldiers are deployed in other regions under a bilateral agreement.

Somalia has called the Somaliland deal an assault on its sovereignty and says it wants all Ethiopia’s soldiers to leave at the end of the year unless Addis Ababa scraps the agreement.

Meanwhile, Egypt, at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s construction of a vast hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, has condemned the Somaliland deal.

In January this year, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Cairo stands shoulder to shoulder with Somalia.

“Egypt will not allow anyone to threaten Somalia or affect its security,” el-Sisi said, speaking at a news conference with visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Cairo has also offered to contribute soldiers to a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the African Union said in July, though it has not commented on the matter publicly.