Somalia called the agreement an act of aggression and recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia, with no announcement so far of a break in diplomatic relations between the two neighboring East African states.

The enactment of the law is Somalia’s response to the announcement of the agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland on January 1 authorizing the former to lease a 20-kilometer strip of its coastal region to build a military base.

According to the Prime Minister of the separatist region, Muse Bihi Abdi, Addis Ababa will recognize Somaliland as an independent state in reciprocity.

In view of the signs of an open crisis and possible collision, the current president of the African Union, Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros, called on the parties to settle their differences by diplomatic means.

Between 1977 and 1978 Ethiopia and Somalia fought a war for the control of the Ogaden area which ended in the defeat of the Mogadishu troops.

Somaliland, which lacks international recognition as an independent state, is a region located in the Horn of Africa, bordered to the north by the Gulf of Aden, to the east by Puntland, to the south and southwest by Ethiopia and to the west by Djibouti.

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