African countries Somalia and Ethiopia are fighting over the flow of weapons

On Tuesday, Somalia accused Ethiopia of smuggling weapons into the conflict-torn Horn of Africa country. This was done out of concern that the weapons could end up in the hands of Islamist terrorists.

A day after an Egyptian warship unloaded heavy weapons in Mogadishu, the city of Somalia, the neighbors traded insults. It was the second shipment of weapons since a security agreement was made in August.

Ethiopia, which is landlocked, has thousands of troops in Somalia fighting insurgents with ties to al-Qaeda. However, it has a disagreement with the Mogadishu government over its plans to construct a port in Somaliland in exchange for possible acceptance of its independence.

Egypt has been fighting with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s plans to build a huge water dam on the Nile River. This fight has brought Somalia closer to Egypt.

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Taye Atske Selassie, said he was worried that weapons from “external forces would further exacerbate the fragile security and would end up in the hands of terrorists in Somalia,” according to the Ethiopia News Agency.

In response, Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, the foreign minister of Somalia, told Reuters, “Ethiopia’s goal in making these false accusations is to hide the illegal crossing of the Somali borders of weapons that end up in the hands of terrorists and civilians.”

He didn’t give any proof for the claim, but he did say that Ethiopia was trying to draw attention away from violations of Somalia’s sovereignty. Last week, Somalia said that Ethiopia was sending weapons to Puntland, a semi-independent state.

If the port deal isn’t canceled, Somalia has said it will send Ethiopia’s troops home by the end of the year.

In December, the U.N. Security Council lifted an arms ban that had been in place for more than 30 years.

Analyst at the Sahan Research think tank Rashid Abdi said there was a high chance that guns would end up in the wrong hands, like with al Shabaab militants. “Al Shabaab is a major beneficiary and in 2023 harvested massive quantities of weapons by conducting raids on enemy (bases),” he added.