Somalia-Ethiopia tensions soar: Mogadishu denies flight clearance

Diplomatic tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia further escalated on Wednesday when Mogadishu denied permission to an Ethiopian flight bound for Hargeisa from Addis Ababa, ostensibly because it was carrying senior Ethiopian officials heading to Somaliland.

Earlier today, conflicting news reports emerged over the status of the above VIP flight from another Ethiopian airline flight ETH372, which is a routine passenger flight plying the Addis and Hargeisa route, which landed after being allowed permission.

The Somalia Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) issued a statement clarifying that it indeed turned back an Ethiopian Airline Dash 8-Q400 flight number ET8372, which was bound for Hargeisa.

“The Somalia Civil Aviation Authority today, 17 January 2024, denied entry into Somalia airspace to Ethiopian Airways flight, a Dash 8-Q400 flight number ET8372 headed to Hargeisa after it emerged that the said flight did not have permission to fly into Somalia airspace,” the SCAA press statement issued in the Somali language read in part.

The latest aviation spat comes amid bad relations between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa after Ethiopia on New Year’s Day signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland, a self-declared northwest Somali enclave, allowing landlocked Ethiopia to lease a 20 km marine base from Somaliland for its navy and commercial use in return for recognizing the enclave as well as giving it a stake in the State-owned Ethiopian Airways.

Somalia accused Ethiopia of violating its sovereignty, and subsequently, on January 7, the Somalia President signed a law to nullify the agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland. Since then, huge demonstrations have been held in Somalia and abroad to denounce Ethiopia’s violation of Somalia’s sovereignty.

Many countries have also denounced Ethiopia’s action, with the US being the latest to denounce Addis Ababa for violating Somalia’s sovereignty.

As a result, the two countries have had frosty relations, leading to Somalia recalling its Ambassador to Mogadishu for consultations. The Ethiopian Ambassador to Somalia was also recalled by Addis Ababa for discussions but has since returned to Somalia.

Ethiopia enjoys a long border with Somalia, and the two countries have fought twice, in 1964 and 1977, over the Ogaden region in Ethiopia inhabited by ethnic Somalis.

The latest aviation spat comes amid a recent announcement made by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming that, due to other prior engagements, it would not be attending an upcoming Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Extraordinary Summit scheduled for January 18 in Kampala, Uganda.

The summit is to discuss, among other issues, the latest diplomatic row between Somalia and Ethiopia over what Somalia calls Ethiopia’s disregard of its sovereignty and breach of its territorial land by reaching an agreement with Somaliland, a region in Somalia. Both Somalia and Ethiopia are members of IGAD, including Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Sudan.