The President of Somaliland stated: “We will move forward with the agreement with Ethiopia”

The president of Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region, Musa Bihi Abdi, said his government would press ahead with a deal signed earlier this month with Ethiopia to give it sea access via the region’s coast.

Regional and international organizations as well as Western countries have condemned the deal, saying it runs counter to Somalia’s territorial integrity and causes tensions that could threaten stability in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia also objected to the agreement as a threat to its sovereignty by Somaliland, a strategically located region along the Gulf of Aden that seceded from Somalia in 1991 when the country collapsed in a conflict between warlords, and Somaliland was not internationally recognized.