President of Somaliland Administration to Visit Ethiopia

Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — The President of Somaliland Administration Muse Bidi Abdi will visit Ethiopia, according to Saleban Yusuf A. Kore, the information minister. Kore did not give details about the visit. Asked if the visit pertains to granting Ethiopia a concession to use Saylac as a seaport, Kore challenged the reporter to produce any evidence to back the “speculation.”

In 2017 Ethiopia bought shares in the DP World Berbera project although it plans to rely heavily on Lamu Port along Djibouti Port.

President Muse Bihi Abdi will meet Abiy Ahmed.

Michael Rubin, a lobbyist for Somaliland administration, wrote recently that Ethiopia may capture Saylac to end its land-locked status. Shortly after becoming a Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 In Abiy Ahmed, proposed an economic integration for the Horn of Africa countries, an initiative that has yet to take off.

Somaliland administration claims to have seceded from Somalia. No country has so far recognised it as a sovereign state.  Analysts believe that Bihi cannot legally grant Ethiopia a permission to use Saylac without the authorisation of the Federal Government of Somalia.

© Puntland Post, 2022