Somalia accuses Ethiopia of arming autonomous Puntland --[Reported by Umva mag]

Somalia has accused neighboring Ethiopia of sending arms and ammunition its autonomous region of Puntland.

Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in a statement said on Saturday that there are moves which suggest that Addis Ababa has started arming some forces in Puntland.

Unlike the self-declared Somaliland Republic, the northeastern Puntland did not declare complete independence from the rest of Somalia.

The situation has pushed strained relations between Somalia and Ethiopia to go from bad to worse after Addis Ababa signed a MoU, agreeing to lease 20 kilometers of coastline from breakaway Somaliland in exchange for recognition of its independence.

The Somali government condemned the agreement declaring it as undermining its sovereignty, expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and threatened to remove thousands of Ethiopian troops as part of the African Union peaceleepers stationed in the country to help fight al-Shabaab.

The interior minister of Puntland had previously labeled the lifting of an embargo imposed on Somalia since 1992 by UN Security Council Resolution 733 (1992) to have been a “big mistake” because “the country is divided and fragmented.”

Ethiopia and officials in Puntland have not responded to the latest allegation by Somalia which earlier this month announced a new alliance with Egypt which has sent military aid to the country, causing alarm in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia and Egypt have been sparring over the former’s hydroelectric dam on the Nile which Cairo says will compromise its share of water from Africa’s longest river.

Ethiopia has dismissed Egypt’s misgivings over the project as unfounded.

MG/as/APA

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