On August 14, 2024, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met in Cairo and signed a military cooperation protocol and defense pact.
The defense pact follows a January 2024 agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland, the self-governing breakaway region of Somalia, in which Somaliland promised to lease 20 kilometers of Somalia’s coastline to Ethiopia. Ethiopia intends to use this land to establish a naval base on the Red Sea. Ethiopia said that if the lease agreement is finalized it will become the first country to formally recognize Somaliland as an independent state. Egypt has expressed its opposition to the Ethiopia-Somaliland agreement.
On August 29, 2024, Egypt sent arms, military hardware and special forces to Somalia. Egypt reportedly is also planning to send 10,000 troops to Somalia as part of a peacekeeping mission, consisting of 5,000 troops that will join an African Union peacekeeping force at the end of 2024 and another 5,000 troops that will be deployed separately.
Dr. Hassan Khannenje, Director of the Horn International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that deployment of Egyptian troops to Somalia could lead to an armed conflict between the Egyptian and Ethiopian forces present on the Ethiopian-Somali border.
On September 2, 2024, Ibrahim Al-Masri, head of the Defense and National Security Committee of Egypt’s House of Representatives, endorsed the deployment of Egyptian troops to Somalia. Al-Masri identified three objectives of the deployment: helping the Somali army to respond to Al-Shabaab terrorist operations, supporting Somali territorial integrity by increasing the efficiency of its armed forces, and strengthening Somalia’s participation in securing the Suez Canal.
Background
Although Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 following the fall of Siad Barre’s government, the region’s claim of independent statehood is not recognized by the government of Somalia or any other country in the world. The Somali government has described the recent deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia as an act of “aggression” against Somalia’s sovereignty and unity.
The relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia deteriorated in 2011 when Ethiopia began building the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam, a major hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile River, which Egypt opposed because the Nile River is the country’s primary source of fresh water, accounting for about 95% of its water needs. Egypt’s opposition stems primarily from historical treaties relating to water rights in 1929 between Egypt and the British colonial government in Sudan and a 1959 agreement between Sudan and Egypt; it argues that any major alteration to the flow of water is a violation of the historical agreements.
Ethiopia believes that colonial agreements that did not include Africans are outdated and do not reflect current realities, and it advocates for equitable utilization of water resources. Ethiopia also argues that it has needs to expand energy access to ensure economic growth and bring its population out of poverty. During Ethiopia’s Sovereignty Day that took place in September 2024, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, declared that Ethiopia has the sovereign right to build a dam in its territory and warned against any military attack on his country.
Deployment of Troops Under Egypt’s Constitution
The Constitution of Egypt allows Egypt’s president to deploy troops abroad under certain conditions. Article 152 provides that the president has the authority to send military troops into combat outside the Egyptian territory after first consulting with the National Defense Council and obtaining the approval of Parliament by a two-thirds majority.
In July 2020, the Egyptian Parliament convened and unanimously approved the deployment of members of the Egyptian armed forces in combat missions outside the borders of the Egyptian state. The main mission of the deployed troops was to defend Egyptian national security in the western strategic front, according to an official statement of the Parliament.
Currently, while Al-Masri has endorsed the planned deployment of troops in Somalia, the Egyptian Parliament thus far has not convened to discuss and approve the planned deployment.
George Sadek, Law Library of Congress
September 26, 2024
Read more Global Legal Monitor articles.