By M.A.Egge
The President of the Somali State of Ethiopia Mustafa Muhumed Omar, popularly known as Agjar, has called on the people of Ethiopia to welcome and defend the memorandum of agreement between Somaliland and his country.
While speaking to the Ethiopian media on Thursday, he made it vividly clear that “the interests of the Somalis and the general people of Ethiopia are embedded in the MoU to have access to the sea, and as such it is the duty of everyone who is of Ethiopian origin to defend the accord with Somaliland”.
President Mustafa said that the people of Ethiopia should shun hullabaloos of what he termed as ‘Enemies of Ethiopia’ who oppose the economic development of their country.
President Mustafa said that this MoU is an exchange or cooperation between the two governments of Somaliland and Ethiopia to develop their economy and trade relations between them.
The President of Somaliland H.E. Musa Bihi Abdi and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding in January of this year which contains cooperation in various fields, and notably, Ethiopian access to the seashore.
One of the provisions of the agreement allows Ethiopia to obtain leased land to operate its Navy, and in return, Ethiopia would be the first country to recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent country since it re-asserted and re-established its sovereignty first earned on 26th June 1960 by dissolving its ill-fated union with Mogadishu 33 years ago in 1991.