MOGADISHU (KAAB TV) – The Al-Shabaab militant group carried out extensive protests across multiple towns in Southern Somalia on Friday, vehemently opposing the recent Ethiopia-Somaliland Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), granting Addis Ababa access to the Red Sea.
In Jilib, Al-Shabaab’s elite clerics, including the outspoken fatwa cleric Sheikh Jama Abdisalan, addressed a gathering of people at the protest.
Participants, including children, women, and elders facing challenging conditions due to drought and floods, held placards with slogans denouncing Ethiopia and Somaliland.
The protesters not only expressed their opposition but also vowed to “assassinate the leaders of Ethiopia and Somaliland.”
The militant leaders emphasized their resistance against what they termed “Ethiopian occupation,” invoking historical wars between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977. They asserted that the sea belongs to “Muslim Somalis, not Ethiopians.”
In Al-Shabaab-controlled towns in Lower Shabelle, the terror group’s local administration denounced the Somaliland-Ethiopia deal during a gathering in Ugunji.
Their statements called on Somalis to take up arms and fight for their land, labeling the leadership of Somaliland as “traitors.”
The Somaliland-Ethiopia deal, signed last Monday, involves Somaliland leasing a 20-kilometer base to Ethiopia, with Somaliland gaining recognition from Ethiopia, according to officials in Hargeisa and Addis Ababa.
Similar protests occurred in Mogadishu during the week, where Somali government officials denounced the MOU and called for resistance against Ethiopia.