Ethiopia’s foreign minister has expressed concerns that the ammunition provided to Somalia may intensify conflict and potentially be redirected to terrorist groups, as reported by the state news agency on Tuesday. This warning followed the arrival of an Egyptian warship in Mogadishu, which delivered heavy weaponry, marking the second arms shipment within a month after Egypt and Somalia established a joint security agreement in August.

Ethiopia, which is landlocked and has deployed thousands of troops in Somalia to combat al Qaeda-affiliated insurgents, has experienced tensions with the Mogadishu government over its plans to develop a port in the self-declared region of Somaliland.

This disagreement has led Somalia to strengthen its ties with Egypt, a country that has had longstanding disputes with Ethiopia regarding the construction of a significant hydroelectric dam on the Nile River’s headwaters.

thiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Taye Astke Selassie expressed his concerns regarding the supply of ammunition from “external forces,” warning that it could further destabilize the already fragile security situation and potentially fall into the hands of terrorists in Somalia, as reported by the Ethiopia News Agency.

Somalia’s government has not yet responded to Taye’s comments.

Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the Sahan Research think-tank, noted, “The risk of weapons ending up in the wrong hands is significant. Al Shabaab has been a major beneficiary, acquiring substantial amounts of weaponry through raids on enemy bases in 2023.”

In December, the U.N. Security Council lifted a decades-long arms embargo that had been in place since Somalia descended into civil war over 30 years ago.

In January, Ethiopia reached an agreement to lease a 20 km (12 miles) stretch of coastline from Somaliland, a region of Somalia that has claimed independence and has functioned with a degree of autonomy since 1991, in exchange for potential recognition of its sovereignty.

In retaliation, Somalia threatened to remove Ethiopian troops, who are present as part of a peacekeeping mission and under bilateral agreements, by the end of the year if the port deal was not annulled.