Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — The President-elect of Somaliland, Abdirahman Abdullahi, this week held a meeting with a senior international law adviser regarding the position his incoming administration will take on the maritime Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the outgoing Somaliland President, Muse Bihi Abdi, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on 1 January 2024.
The maritime MoU aims to lease a Somali coastal district to Ethiopia for 50 years to build a naval base for the landlocked country. Abdirahman has been advised to consider endorsing the maritime MoU and to call for a new round of negotiations with Ethiopia. The legal adviser for the Somaliland President-elect is expected to provide a legal opinion defending the legality of the MoU based on previous agreements between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Somaliland Administration.
One of the clauses the new Somaliland Administration might cite is “economic development,” which the Somaliland Administration interprets as a right to enter economic agreements with companies and countries.
Abdirahman Abdullahi, the President-elect of Somaliland, has been advised to situate his defence of the legality of the maritime MoU within the Horn of Africa Integration Initiative, endorsed by President Hassan Sheikh in Eritrea in 2022, as well as by his predecessor, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in 2018. Abdirahman may cite the defence pact agreement signed between the Federal Government of Somalia and Ethiopia in December 2023, particularly the “maritime security clause,” which could make President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of the Federal Republic of Somalia vulnerable to being accused of treason.
A lawyer in Hargeisa stated that “this underdeveloped legal argument could extend the time it takes to resolve the maritime MoU dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia.”
The position of the incoming Somaliland government on the maritime MoU with Ethiopia may dampen expectations in Villa Somalia, which congratulated the new Somaliland administration voters but criticised its attempt to give Somali territory to Ethiopia. Villa Somalia further accused the outgoing Somaliland Administration government of attempting to alter Somali genealogy to claim affinity with the Oromo ethnicity of Ethiopia.
© Puntland Post, 2024
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