Hiiraan Online
Tuesday April 5, 2016
HARGEISA (HOL) – Struggling to improve port access for its over 90 million population, the Ethiopian government had finally signed a major agreement with the northern Somalia breakaway republic of Somaliland to use a port in the region as a transhipment hub for the landlocked country, sources said on Monday.
The deal which has been in the making for years provides Ethiopia an alternative transit hub for Ethiopia which largely relies on the Red Sea port of Djibouti which handles millions of dollars goods that are shipping the port for Ethiopia each month.Officials in the Somaliland government told HOL that the deal which was signed last month would take effect as early as next month.
According to officials, the use of Berbera port which lies roughly 200km away from the Ethiopia border would work in favor of Somaliland which would collect millions of dollars annually from the lease of the port, a scenario which could help improve the region’s economic growth.
Somaliland which has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 employs its own government, army and economy operates outside the influence of Somalia’s central government, however, no country has so far recognized it as an independent state.
Ethiopian government hasn’t yet commented on the development which may reduce the lease fees it has to pay Djibouto for the use of its port.
The secession of Eritrea had dealt a major blow to Ethiopia as it transformed the once coastal nation into a landlocked state, forcing it to seek foreign ports to import and export goods.