Cabays Media, Ethiopia — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has dismissed fears of a war with Somalia over the deal made with Republic of Somaliland for sea access for his landlocked country, saying Tuesday that Ethiopia is only interested in peace with its neighbor.

Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Somaliland on Jan. first 2024. The final agreement has not been made public and reports say it could be finalised before the end of Feb, but Somaliland says Ethiopia agreed to recognize its independence in return for a naval port at its strategic Red Sea waters.

The deal has jangled Somalia, which claims that Somaliland is part of Somalia. Somalia’s president has suggested he is ready to go to war with Ethiopia to prevent it from building a port there though he too played down since and offers for a deal if Ethiopia reverses its decision to deal with Somaliland.

Speaking to the Ethiopian lawmakers on Tuesday, Abiy said he had “no intention” of going to war with Somalia but instead building its peace by sacrificing his men and women in uniform.

“To ensure the peace of Somalia, thousands of Ethiopians have died in Somalia,” he said, a reference to Ethiopian troops fighting with Alshabab and its contributions of African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Abiy said his country will share what it got a resources and expects others to do so. “We will share our resources, even in the future, but my hope is I expect them to accommodate our requests as well,” Abiy told the Ethiopian parliamentarians he hopes them to approve the MoU he reached with Somaliland’s president, Muse Bihi.

“We are dying in Somalia because the peace of Somalia is the peace of Ethiopia. The development of Somalia is the development of our country. We believe we are brothers,” Abiy said. “We don’t want to fight. We want to see a strong and prosperous Somalia that is a market for Ethiopian goods.”

Meanwhile, Ethiopia has taken a huge campaign it convincing the World the deal it entered with Somaliland has not breached the sovereignty of Somalia or the International law and Somaliland has been separate from Somalia since 1991 when it re-declared the independence it gained from Great Britain in 1960.

Follow