Don’t give your daughter to a man who wants your wife

By Ayman Okeil

On January 1, 2024, the office of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that his government had signed a memorandum of understanding in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, with Somaliland, a separatist region from the Federal Republic of Somalia. It became unilaterally independent in 1991 and has not received international recognition since then, but it has Diplomatic and economic relations with various countries.

Following the signing of the memorandum of understanding, massive demonstrations took place in Ligaya, which is the area mentioned in the memorandum of understanding and is located near the Awdal region in Somaliland. Demonstrations also took place in areas adjacent to the coastal city of Ligaya, and the demonstrators in these gatherings were chanting, “Our sea is not for sale,” “Our land is not for sale.”

Some angry bloggers also repeated the Somali proverb, “Do not give your daughter to a man who wants your wife,” to indicate Ethiopian ambitions in Somali lands, at a time when it claims that it only wants an outlet close to the Red Sea. The chief sheikh of the Hargeisa region also stressed the need for unity to protect the region from what he described as Ethiopia’s ambitions.

According to circulated information, the memorandum of understanding stipulates that Ethiopia will obtain 20 kilometers of Somaliland for maritime and commercial use for a period of 50 years in exchange for Somaliland receiving recognition as an independent state from Ethiopia, and obtaining a share in Ethiopian Airlines or the Ethiopian Telecommunications Company. But the position rejecting the memorandum of understanding was not limited to popular reactions in the Ligaya region of western Somalia. But there is also rejection from some ministers in the same Somaliland government that signed the agreement. On January 7, 2023, the Minister of Defense in the Somaliland government, Abdi Kani Mahmoud Attia, submitted his resignation, claiming that he heard about the memorandum of understanding from the media, and the President of Somaliland did not consult him regarding the terms of the memorandum. Trade Minister Mohamed Hassan Saajin objected to the memorandum of understanding and publicly accused the President of Somaliland of being part of Ethiopia’s plan to annex Somali lands. He said that Ethiopia “is not interested in investing in a seaport, but what matters to it is annexing the lands.”

But the most important development, which the Somaliland government fears will continue, is that the memorandum of understanding has revitalized the Awdal State movement, a unionist movement calling for rejoining Somalia again and rejecting the path of secession.

There are many benefits that prompt Ethiopia to sign the memorandum of understanding, and the economic benefit is represented by reducing the fees that Ethiopia pays to Djibouti to pass its exports abroad or enter its imports. This is one of the fundamental points that makes us understand Ethiopia’s motives in obtaining a commercial port on the Red Sea, as Ethiopia pays a billion dollars annually in fees for using the port of Djibouti, which handles 95% of Ethiopian exports and imports, and these fees have become a huge burden on Ethiopia, and the evidence for that is in 2022, Abiy Ahmed asked Djibouti to reduce these fees, but the Djibouti government rejected the proposal of the Ethiopian Prime Minister. Because the fees that Djibouti collects from Ethiopia generate revenues that may be the most important in developing the resources of Djibouti’s economy, which is a small economy. In the end, Ethiopia’s motives and plans for the memorandum of understanding are known to everyone, and therefore there was rejection by all stakeholders of this memorandum and the Ethiopian plan supported by some countries.