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[text/observer network chen sijia] according to reuters on september 23, egypt recently sent a batch of weapons and equipment to somalia to enhance somalia's military capabilities. this move may be related to the agreement reached between somaliland and ethiopia in january, which leased land in exchange for ethiopia's recognition of somaliland's "independence", which aroused dissatisfaction in somalia and egypt, and the regional situation continued to be tense.

the egyptian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement on the 23rd saying: "a batch of egyptian military aid has arrived in mogadishu, the capital of somalia, to support and enhance the capabilities of the somali army. this batch of goods once again proves egypt's central role in supporting somalia in developing national capabilities to achieve the somali people's expectations for security, stability and development."

somalia's defense minister abdulkadir mohamed noor posted a photo of the ship unloading on social media. he wrote: "the time when somalia obeyed others and waited for others to confirm who to contact is over. we know our interests and we will choose between allies and enemies. thank you egypt."

a diplomat told reuters that egyptian warships began unloading at the somali port on the 22nd. two somali port employees and two military officials revealed that somali security forces blocked the port and the roads around it on the 22nd and 23rd, and a convoy transported weapons provided by egypt to a facility of the somali ministry of defense and a nearby military base.

this is the second time egypt has sent weapons to somalia in a month. in august, egypt signed a military cooperation protocol with somalia and expressed its willingness to send troops to participate in a new peacekeeping mission in somalia. egyptian president sisi said at the time that in egypt, somalia can "rely on friends and brothers." several diplomats and somali government officials revealed that egypt provided somalia with its first military aid in more than 40 years on august 27.

the move may be related to the dispute between egypt, somalia and ethiopia. in january this year, the somaliland region reached an agreement with ethiopia to lease land for the construction of a port in exchange for ethiopia's recognition of somaliland's independence claim. somaliland is a federal member state of somalia that declared "independence" in 1991 but has not been recognized by any country.

according to the agreement, ethiopia will obtain a 50-year lease of the berbera port and surrounding land in the gulf of aden for military and commercial purposes. in return, somaliland will obtain a portion of the shares of ethiopian airlines, and ethiopia is considering recognizing somaliland's "independence."

after eritrea gained independence in 1993, ethiopia lost all its access to the sea and became highly dependent on djibouti for maritime trade. in recent years, ethiopia has stepped up its efforts to gain more access to the sea, with prime minister ahmed declaring in october last year that obtaining ports was a matter of "existence" for ethiopia.

ahmed's statement caused concern among neighboring countries. eritrea said that "some recent remarks about the red sea were excessive" and moved its troops to the border between the two countries. djibouti also stressed that its sovereignty must not be violated. in response, ethiopia quickly clarified that it had no intention of invading any country. but it is worth noting that the somali government did not respond at the time.

the somali government is unhappy with ethiopia's signing of the agreement with somaliland, saying it violates somalia's sovereignty. somalia said it would demand the withdrawal of all ethiopian soldiers by the end of this year unless the ethiopian government scraps the agreement.

al jazeera said ethiopia has at least 3,000 troops stationed in somalia as part of the african union transition mission in somalia (atmis) peacekeeping operation.

the egyptian government also condemned ethiopia. after meeting with somali president mahmoud in january, egyptian president sisi said that egypt would not allow anyone to threaten somalia or undermine its security, "do not test egypt or try to threaten egypt's brothers, especially when they ask egypt to intervene."

egyptian media reported on the 22nd that in view of the unstable regional security situation, the egyptian embassy in somalia has warned egyptian citizens not to travel to the somaliland region.

in recent years, egypt and ethiopia have been arguing over the grand renaissance dam, and their relations have remained tense. ethiopia is determined to complete the filling of the grand renaissance dam, while egypt is worried that this will affect the flow of water from the nile river. the grand renaissance dam is located on the blue nile, one of the two major sources of the nile river, near the border between ethiopia and sudan. the three countries have been arguing over issues such as the allocation of water rights and the rules for operating the dam, and have not yet reached a solution.

the ethiopian government has not yet responded to egypt's arms shipment to somalia. reuters said ethiopia had previously stated that it would not stand idly by if "other actors" took measures to "undermine regional stability." the somaliland authorities claimed that they were worried that the weapons provided by egypt would "fall into the hands of criminals."

currently, turkey is trying to mediate between somalia and ethiopia to resolve the dispute. the second round of negotiations promoted by turkey ended last month, but the parties concerned failed to reach an agreement. turkish foreign minister hakan fidan said on august 13 that the second round of negotiations covered a much larger number of topics than the first round, and the two sides reached a consensus on "some main principles."

on september 19, local time, fedan told turkish media that turkey will continue to engage with somalia and ethiopia at the ministerial and head of state levels respectively. "our goal is to establish one-on-one contacts to integrate the positions of both sides, and then bring the two sides together when the positions are consistent, but we will not let the two sides negotiate directly."

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