Somaliland’s defense minister resigns over deal to give Ethiopia access to the region’s coastline

By OMAR FARUK
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somaliland’s defense minister has resigned to protest his government signing an agreement to allow landlocked Ethiopia to access Somaliland’s coastline. He told local television that “Somalia has lost land to Ethiopia in the past, and Ethiopia remains our number one enemy.” Somalia has protested the deal as a threat to its sovereignty by Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia decades ago but lacks international recognition for its claims of being an independent state. The minister assserted that he told the Somaliland president that stationing Ethiopian troops in Somaliland was fundamentally inappropriate.