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SOMALI SEAPORT CONCESSIONS TO ETHIOPIA! IS IT A COMMERCE OR CONQUEST?

By Ahmed Khalif

There are reports – that went around in Somali News Websites – on multiple seaport concessions that had recently been given to the Ethiopian Government in the Somali towns of Berbera, Kismayo, and Barawe.

Berbera Port
Port of Berbera

These concessions, when taken at face value – especially in today’s globally open market world – should have been a sound propitious business agreement between two neighboring states: Ethiopia, on one hand – a densely populated, landlocked country that badly needs seaports – and Somalia, on the other hand – a war-torn, impoverished country that needs whatever income it can draw from its underused seaports. However, when viewed through the troubled history of this region of the world, specifically Ethiopia’s historical claims of those same seaports and its long-standing imperialistic ambitions, and its currently exigencies of strategic seawaters, the mention of these concessions set the alarm bells ringing aloud.

Ethiopia had long been claiming – groundless albeit – not only the ownership of those seaports, but the whole Somali territory and more. In a Memorandum to the United Nations in 1948, Ethiopia had – as quixotic as it might sound then – laid its claim as follows:

“Prior to the race of the European Powers to divide up the Continent of Africa, Ethiopia included an extensive coastline along the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It was only in the last 15 years of the 19th Century that Ethiopia had been deprived of access to the sea by loss of Somaliland and Eritrea. The first step in this direction was to seize Massawa by the Italians in 1885. This was followed by a similar seizure of the Benadir and other areas of Somaliland, as well as by series of agreements concerning Ethiopia, but in regard to which it had not been consulted. It was under these conditions that agreements were concluded in 1888, 1890, 1891, and 1894.”

On leaflets showered over Eriterea by Royal Air Force at his behest in 1941, Haile Selassie called upon the people of Benadir – all Somali people as he meant – as his subjects, under the Ethiopian flag:

“Eritrean people and people of Benadir, you were separated from your mother, Ethiopia and were put under the yoke of the enemy, and under the yoke of enemy you still remain. Our cruel enemies, the Italians, have taken your green and fertile land: they prevent you from ploughing it and from grazing your cattle on it. But now the day has come when you will be saved from all the ignominy and hardship. I have come to restore the independence of my country, including Eriterea and the Benadir, whose people will henceforth dwell under the shade of the Ethiopian flag. In this struggle we are neither alone nor without arms. We have the help of Great Britain, therefore I summon you to strive to deliver yourself from the alien slavery…”

Margery Perham, a renowned historian in the History of Africa, rejected Haile Selassie’s historical claim of Benadir as baseless and refuted any Abyssinian suzerainty over Benadir coast of Somalia in the retraceable history.

In 1963, at the first O. A. U. Conference in Addis Ababa, the President of Somalia, Aden A. Osman had politely raised a concern about the plight of the Somalis that were still under Ethiopia; Djibouti under France; and N.F.D. under Britain (now Kenya). The President also asserted prudently the political position of the Somali Government in that regard when he stated:

“… Ethiopia has taken possession of a large portion of Somali territory without the consent and against the wishes of the inhabitants. The present state of agitation and ferment in those areas will continue to fester, unless an equitable solution is found. If the wound is not healed, it will constitute a constant source of trouble in the region, and may affect adversely the friendly relations between the Somali Republic and her neighbors. Let there be no misunderstanding about our intentions. The Somali Government has no ambitions or claims for territorial aggrandizement. At the same time the people of the Republic cannot be expected to remain indifferent to the appeal of its brethren. The Somali Government, therefore, must press for self-determination for the inhabitants of the Somali areas adjacent to the Somali Republic. Self-determination is a cornerstone of the U. N. Charter, to which we all subscribe. If the Somalis in those areas are given the opportunity to express their will freely, the Government of the Republic pledges itself to accept the verdict.”

Unfortunately, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold, in complete denial of the Somalia’s existence, replied to the President of Somalia:

“… I shall restrict myself to few facts, so that everyone may know the truth for once and for all. Ethiopia has always existed in history for centuries as an independent state and as a nation for more than 3,000 years. That is a fact. Second fact, the historical frontiers of Ethiopia stretched from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, including all territory between them. Third fact, there is no record in history either of a Somali State or a Somali Nation. That too is a fact.”

Read More: SOMALI SEAPORT CONCESSIONS TO ETHIOPIA

Ahmed Khalif
Email:[email protected]


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