Ethiopia Shifts Stance on Maritime MOU, Abandons Naval Base Plan in Lughaya for Merchant Port Use

Riyale: “I have the first one million dollars for the Lughaya port project.”

Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — In a speech at a function in Borama, the former President of the Somaliland Administration Dahir Riyale Kahin claimed that plans were afoot to construct a port at Lughaya where  Ethiopia was planning to set up a naval base.

“I have the first one million dollars for the port project. As a community, you raised money towards that project,” he told his audience. The Somaliland administration has turned its attention to calming the people of Awdal who oppose the naval base that Ethiopia would use as a merchant port to reduce its reliance on the Djibouti Port.

“The Somaliland administration will not formalise the maritime Memorandum of Understanding unless Ethiopia grants us diplomatic recognition,’ said Essa Keyd, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the secessionist administration.

© Puntland Post, 2024