iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Cross-border tensions between Israel and Lebanon have led to fears of an all-out war
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Egyptian warship has delivered more arms to Somalia, say officials
Egypt's embassy in Mogadishu has warned its citizens not to travel to Somaliland due to the security situation in the region, say media reports
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) welcoming Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo. AFP File Photo
An Egyptian warship has delivered a second major cache of weaponry to Somalia including anti-aircraft guns and artillery, port and military officials said on Monday, in a move likely to stoke further friction between the two countries and Ethiopia.
Ties between Egypt and Somalia have grown this year over their shared mistrust of Ethiopia, prompting Cairo to send several planeloads of arms to Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, after the countries signed a joint security pact in August.
Ethiopia angered Mogadishu by agreeing to a preliminary deal in January with the breakaway region of Somaliland to lease land for a port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia.
Egypt, at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa's construction of a vast hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, has condemned the Somaliland deal.
The Egyptian warship began unloading the weapons on Sunday, one diplomat said. Security forces blocked off the quayside and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday as convoys carried the weapons to a defence ministry building and nearby military bases, two port workers and two military officials told Reuters.
Nasra Bashir Ali, an official at Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre's office, posted a photo on her X account of Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur watching as the ship was being unloaded.
Egyptian authorities either declined to comment, or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Egyptian media reported on Sunday that Egypt's embassy in Mogadishu had warned its citizens not to travel to Somaliland, due to the security situation in the region.
Ethiopia has at least 3,000 soldiers stationed in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) fighting insurgents, while an estimated 5,000-7,000 troops are deployed in other regions under a bilateral agreement.
Somalia has called the Somaliland deal an assault on its sovereignty and says it wants all Ethiopia's troops to leave at the end of the year unless Addis Ababa scraps the agreement.
Egypt has, meanwhile, offered to contribute troops to a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the African Union said in July, though Cairo has not commented on the matter publicly.
More news from World
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster in early August, according to a preliminary United Nations report
They were among 13 sequences reconstructed from people whose remains were found at the Oakhurst shelter and lived 1,300-10,000 years ago
Union boss calls winter fuel payments cut 'cruel'
More than 540 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in Wajima in the 72 hours to Sunday morning — the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available in 1976
Heavy rains flood Gaza displacement camps
Opposition politicians from the left say they will challenge Barnier's government with a no-confidence motion, with far-right politicians also slamming its composition
Labour to make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day on the job, although probation periods would remain in place