Desert Storm Rising: Egypt Deploys Helicopters and Arms Carrier to Somalia in Bold Military Move
- On Monday, details continued to emerge regarding the delivery by an Egyptian warship of a large arms shipment to Somalia, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery weapons.
- Reuters reported, citing a diplomatic source, that Egyptian warships began unloading the arms shipment on Sunday.
- Two port workers and two military officials told the agency that security forces closed the docks and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday, while convoys worked to transport...
On Monday, details continued to emerge regarding the delivery by an Egyptian warship of a large arms shipment to Somalia, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery weapons.
Reuters reported, citing a diplomatic source, that Egyptian warships began unloading the arms shipment on Sunday.
Two port workers and two military officials told the agency that security forces closed the docks and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday, while convoys worked to transport weapons to a building belonging to the defense ministry and a nearby military base.
Nasra Bashir Ali, an official in the office of Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barr, posted a photo on his account on the X platform showing Defense Minister Abdelkader Mohamed Noor personally witnessing the process of unloading the ship’s cargo.
Images of the ship – which has not been named – show it docked in port, with helicopters overhead, apparently with security patrols.
For its part, the Egyptian authorities have refused to comment and have not yet responded to requests for comment, while the move could raise tensions between the two countries on the one hand and Ethiopia on the other.
Last August, Egypt sent aircraft carrying weapons to Somalia, its first in more than four decades.
Relations between Egypt and Somalia have improved this year against the backdrop of Ethiopia’s shared stance of distrust, with the two countries signing a joint security agreement.
Ethiopia angered Mogadishu by signing a preliminary agreement with the separatist region of Somaliland to rent a coastal port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia, and Egypt condemned the deal.
It is worth noting that Cairo has been at odds with Addis Ababa for years over Ethiopia’s construction of a massive dam on the Nile to generate hydroelectricity.
Somaliland’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it feared the weapons could reach other groups, including al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.
EXCLUSIVE: Ethiopia takes control of an airport in Somalia
Al-Hura’s website received information that Ethiopian forces recently took control of the security of an airport, not an “airport”, contrary to what was reported in the Somali press.
Egyptian media reported on Sunday that the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu warned its citizens against traveling to Somaliland “due to the security situation there.”
There are at least three thousand Ethiopian troops in Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping mission fighting Islamist extremists, while the number of Ethiopian forces deployed in other parts of Somalia under bilateral agreements is estimated at between five and seven thousand.
Last July, the African Union said Egypt had offered to contribute troops to a new peacekeeping mission in Somalia, but Cairo has not commented publicly.
The Ethiopian government has not yet responded to a Reuters request for comment, but it has said in the past that it cannot stand idly by while “other actors” take action to destabilize the region, as it puts it.
After the plane… an Egyptian warship delivers a “large” arms shipment to Somalia
Military officials said on Monday that an Egyptian warship had delivered a second major shipment of arms to Somalia, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery weapons, which could raise tensions between the two countries on the one hand and Ethiopia on the other.
A few days ago, the Al-Hura website received information that Ethiopian forces recently took control of the security of an airport in Somalia, and not an “airport”, contrary to what was reported in the Somali press.
The information we received in support of “Voice of America” indicates that there are 7 bases of the Ethiopian forces in cities located within the Gedo region, which are Dolo, Luuk, Garbahari, Bardere, Bordopo, Yorkud and Balad Hao.
Four of these seven bases are located at or near the airport, at Dolo, Garbahari, Bardere and Bordeaux. These bases have been there for several years, long before the current tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Sources said that despite the heavy presence of Ethiopian forces at these airports, civilians and Somali officials come and go from these airports, as Somali civilians work there.
In addition, a large number of Somali security personnel work with the Ethiopians, particularly at checkpoints leading to the airport, but the role of these Somali soldiers appears to be limited.
Late last month, Ethiopian forces took control of Luuk airport security. The force asked Somali officials who run the airport for a list of people arriving from Mogadishu before they left.
Ethiopia has recently increased the number of its forces in the city of Dolo and its airport, but the Ethiopians have already been at Dolo airport for two years and they have been in Bardere and Bordpu for about nine years and may stay longer. than average.