Abdiqani Mohamud Aateeye, Somaliland Defense Minister Leaves Office
Somaliland, a breakaway Somalia region has seen a shake in the government over what the official term as ‘work without consultation’. This is after the region’s Defense Minister Abdiqani Mohamud Aateeye resigned, protesting the region’s President’s move to grant Ethiopia access to Red Sea for military port establishment.
Abdiqani Mohamud Aateeye, who announced his quit in an interview with local Horyaal TV, said he opposed the “unlawful deal” that Somaliland and Ethiopia signed on Monday in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
Mr. Abdiqani Mohamud, in his resignation address claimed it was wrong for the President to make deals without consulting the Council of Ministers. He claimed they only saw an update of the deal on media; thus, the president went against the will of Somaliland.
“Ethiopia does not only want the sea and the port, it is taking our land.
Mohamud Aateeye
Our people will not accept their land to be taken easily. I’m telling Abiy that our sea is not that easy,
Mohamud Aateeye added
Mohamud Aateeye said this, referring to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who signed the deal with Abdi.
The self-declared republic of Somaliland is opposed to the deal which grants Ethiopia a direct access to the region’s seaport. Sources have it that the Minister is opposed to Ethiopia’s move to set a military base in the coastal town of Lughaya, in Awdal region where Mr. Aateeye hails from.
Mr Aateeye hails from Somaliland’s Awdal region, where Ethiopia reportedly wants to set up its military base in the coastal town of Lughaya. He terms this a blind and selfish move by the President.
Ethiopian government and Somaliland President signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) giving Ethiopia the said access to Red Sea. In exchange, Ethiopia will reciprocate by recognizing Somaliland as a self-dependent State.
Somalia, the mainland, has hence expressed its disappointment with the deal, terming it as ‘aggression’, and since recalled its Ambassador to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Amidst the diplomatic row, no sources revel whether Ethiopia’s ambassador to Somalia has been recalled, or returned to Addis Ababa.
Aateeye’s resignation came as Somaliland witnessed a huge protest against the port deal on Sunday in the city of Borama, the provincial capital of Awdal region.
