Tuesday September 24, 2024
Troops take part in the Somali Army Cadet Officers Course at the General Dhagabadan Training Centre in Mogadishu on March 19. Photographer: Amaury Falt-Brown/AFP/Getty Images.
Egypt said it sent military aid to Somalia, the latest show of support for the Horn of Africa nation that’s embroiled in a feud with neighboring Ethiopia over a breakaway territory.
A shipment that recently arrived in the capital, Mogadishu, is part of backing “for the efforts of sisterly Somalia to achieve security and stability, combat terrorism” and preserve its sovereignty and unity, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Monday in a brief statement.
The North African nation didn’t elaborate on the aid, but said it would help build the Somali army’s capabilities and was part of Egypt’s obligations under a military-cooperation protocol signed in August.
That pact came in the wake of a planned deal by landlocked Ethiopia to formally recognize Somaliland — which declared independence from Somalia three decades ago — in return for access to a port and a military base on the Gulf of Aden.
Somalia, which regards Somaliland as part of its territory, balked at the proposal. Egypt delivered a shipment of weapons to Somalia last month and will provide training to its troops, Somalia’s foreign minister said at the time.
Ethiopia and Egypt are also at loggerheads over a giant hydropower dam that Addis Ababa has built on the Nile River’s main tributary. Cairo has for years expressed concern the reservoir may affect the flow of its main source of fresh water.
