Somalis March in Mogadishu to Protest Ethiopia-Somaliland Red Sea Port Deal
Hundreds of people joined a demonstration in Somalia on Wednesday in protest against a deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland that Mogadishu has denounced as a violation of its sovereignty.
The Somali government on Tuesday vowed to defend its territory "by any legal means possible" after Somaliland agreed to give landlocked Ethiopia access to its Red Sea coast.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate of about 4.5 million people, has been seeking full statehood since claiming independence from Somalia in 1991.
But the move has not been recognized internationally and is fiercely opposed by Mogadishu.
"People gathered here today ... to protest the aggression against their country and protect it from the enemy," Mogadishu Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimale told a rally at a stadium in the Somali capital.
The demonstrators, most of them students, chanted slogans against Somaliland president, Muse Bihi Abdi, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who signed the historic memorandum of understanding in Addis Ababa on Monday.
"We came here to show that we are ready to defend our territory and our coastal lands. Not one inch of our territory is for sale," said Ali Mohamed Mire, a Mogadishu resident.
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