Relations deteriorated! Somalia suspends all Ethiopian airlines

It is reported that the Somali Federal Government Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) announced on August 21 that Ethiopian Airlines must "resolve" its "violation" of Somali sovereignty by August 23. And threatened that if the issue of "violation of sovereignty" is not resolved, the Somali authorities will immediately revoke the airline's license to operate in the country.

It is reported that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Federal Government of Somalia (SCAA) issued a warning to Ethiopian Airlines on August 21, requiring Ethiopian Airlines to delete relevant news such as "Somaliland" from its official website, believing that the emergence of the word "Somaliland" infringes on Somali national sovereignty, so Ethiopian Airlines is required to solve the problem within August 23. Otherwise, all Ethiopian Airlines flights to Somalia will be suspended, as well as a ban on flights in Somali national airspace.

Then, on Aug. 23, Ethiopian Airlines responded by asking the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) to give more time to change the website, saying the deadline of Aug. 23 was too tight. However, SCAA later replied that it rejected the Ethiopian Airlines request, saying that the request for change was not difficult and was feasible within a given period of time. Therefore, all Ethiopian Airlines flights will be suspended.

It is understood that relations between Ethiopia and the Somali state have been strained, but earlier this year, the Ethiopian Prime Minister signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government of Somaliland in northern Somaliland to obtain the right to use the port of Berbera in Somaliland and to recognize Somaliland as an independent country. Relations between Ethiopia and the Somali States deteriorated as a result of these memorandums of understanding.

It was reported earlier that Eritrea, another neighboring country of Ethiopia, announced the suspension of all Ethiopian Airlines flights. It is also reported that Eritrea has established close relations with Somalia and believes that Eritrea's suspension of Ethiopian flights is related to Somalia.

On 14 August, Turkey organized the peace talks between Ethiopia and Somalia. According to the news at that time, the talks made progress, but a final agreement needed to be reached in early September to three rounds of talks.

However, on August 19, the President of Somalia signed a military agreement with Egypt, and later criticized Ethiopia at a press conference, saying that the second round of early talks had failed because Ethiopia had not respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia. It was subsequently indicated that there was no room for dialogue until Ethiopia withdrew its memorandum of understanding with Somalia.

At present, Ethiopia has not commented on the Somali government, and Turkey has not yet confirmed whether the third round of talks will be cancelled. And Ethiopia's agreement with Somaliland has not yet been fully settled, so Ethiopia has not yet been granted the right to use the port. In addition bad relations with Eritrea and Somalia are not conducive to Ethiopian exports.

At present, the situation in Ethiopia is very chaotic, with continuous conflicts between domestic government forces and regional armed groups, civil war breaks out at any time, and the reform issued by the Ethiopian government has led to a substantial devaluation of the Ethiopian currency Bill, causing strong dissatisfaction among the local people.

Therefore, for many industries in Ethiopia, they are very dependent on exports, especially agricultural products such as coffee, but the import and export of the port of Djibouti has been seriously hindered by the Red Sea crisis. However, Ethiopia's relations with two other neighbours have deteriorated and are unable to use its port exports.

Some coffee people said that the prospect of Ethiopia's coffee industry is not ideal. Although the low exchange rate is conducive to exports, the rising prices of necessities such as fertilizer and fuel have led to an increase in planting costs, so the prices of commodities such as coffee have also risen. And the export problem is difficult to solve in a short period of time. The rising price of coffee, coupled with problems such as slow export transportation time, may greatly reduce the desire of buyers to buy, which is not conducive to development.

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