Officials say that an Egyptian warship sends more weapons to Somalia

On Monday, port and military officials said that an Egyptian warship had sent a second large shipment of weapons to Somalia. The weapons included anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This is likely to make things worse between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Since both Egypt and Somalia don’t trust Ethiopia, their relationship has grown this year. In August, the two countries signed a security pact and Cairo sent several planeloads of weapons to Mogadishu, the city of Somalia.

Somaliland, a breakaway area, agreed to a preliminary deal with Ethiopia in January to lease land for a port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia. This made Mogadishu very angry.

Egypt has been at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s plans to build a huge hydroelectric dam at the source of the Nile River. Egypt has spoken out against the Somaliland deal.

One official said that the Egyptian warship started taking the weapons off on Sunday. Two port workers and two military officials told Reuters that on Sunday and Monday, security forces blocked off the quayside and nearby roads so that convoys could bring the weapons to a building for the defense ministry and nearby military camps.

Nasra Bashir Ali, who works for the office of Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, shared a picture on her X account of Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur looking as the ship was unloaded.

In a statement, Somaliland’s foreign affairs ministry said they were worried that the weapons could end up in the wrong hands, such as with the al Shabaab group, which is related to al Qaeda.

Egyptian officials either refused to say anything or didn’t answer right away when they were asked to.

On Sunday, Egyptian media said that the country’s embassy in Mogadishu had told Egyptians not to go to Somaliland because of the safety situation there.

As part of an African Union peacekeeping operation (ATMIS), Ethiopia has at least 3,000 soldiers fighting Islamist rebels in Somalia. Another 5,000 to 7,000 troops are stationed in other areas as part of a bilateral agreement.

Somalia says the deal with Somaliland is an attack on its sovereignty and wants all of Ethiopia’s troops to leave by the end of the year unless Addis Ababa backs out of the deal.

The African Union said in July that Egypt had offered to send troops to a new peacekeeping force in Somalia, but Cairo has not said anything public about the offer.

Reuters asked the Ethiopian government for a statement, but they didn’t answer right away. But in the past, they have said that they can’t do nothing while “other actors” are trying to make the region less stable.