this video was brought to you by nebula Ethiopia has found itself in disputes with its neighbor Somalia and Regional power Egypt with tensions on the Horn of Africa reaching New Heights in fact Ethiopia's push for access to the Sea and economic development through a massive Dam project has seemingly provoked the creation of a burgeoning anti- Ethiopia alliance with Somalia and Egypt inking a new military pact which could see Egyptian troops deployed to Somalia much to the anger of Ethiopia so in this video we're going to explain why Ethiopia is at odds with the two countries
why tensions are approaching a fresh Peak and discuss the prospect of a new [Music] conflict before we start if you haven't already please consider subscribing and ringing the bell to stay in the loop and be notified when we release new videos so to start with we're going to explain the tension that flared between Ethiopia and Somalia since the beginning of this year in January Ethiopia's prime minister ABI Ahmed signed a memorandum of understanding with Somali land a self-governing but unrecognized Breakaway Republic that declared independence from Somalia in 1991 the deal would see Somali land at
least 20 mi of Coastline to landlocked Ethiopia and access to the port of Bara for Commercial and Military purposes in exchange the deal would reportedly see Ethiopia recognize Somali land as a sovereign country now these would be pretty major developments for Ethiopia it would Mark the restoration of access to the Sea which was lost after Eritrea won its independence in the early '90s for Somali land it would be the first time a UN member state had recognized its sovereignty but the memorandum of understanding was met with a furious reaction from Somalia which obviously doesn't recognize
Somali land's Independence the somal government described it as an illegal act of aggression declared the deal null and void vowed to block the deal record its ambassador from Ethiopia and denied air traffic clearance for an Ethiopian Airlines flight carrying an Ethiopian delegation to somal land so tensions were running High between Ethiopia and Somalia when Regional power Egypt stepped in in support of Somalia with Egypt's President CeCe saying no one will agree to Ethiopia's move move and the Egypt would provide support in case of aggression against one of the Arab countries especially when brotherly countries ask
us to stand by them now this is far from the first time that Egypt and Ethiopia have been on the opposite sides of a tense dispute relating to Ethiopia's unilateral actions in fact since 2011 the two countries have been at odds over the grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam or gird a massive hydroelectric Dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile River a tributary of the Nile river that flows through Sudan and Egypt before reaching the sea the multi-billion dollar gird has already started generating electricity and the overall project is more than 95% complete with it holding
the potential to double Ethiopia's electricity generation so Ethiopia unsurprisingly views the project as crucial to the development of the country however Egypt For Whom the Nile is its lifeblood sees the dam as a major threat fearing disruptions and restrictions on its own water supply and as such has been vocal in its opposition warning that it will defend and protect the rights and interests of the Egyptian people in accordance with the UN Charter in fact back in 2021 Egypt wrote to the UN Security Council saying that Ethiopia's intransigence and unilateralism over the dam could have serious
ramifications that threatened peace and security throughout the region a clear hint that the dispute risked escalating into a conflict so anyway the buddying up between Egypt and Somalia isn't exactly surprising and could present a burgeoning anti- Ethiopia Alliance which appeared to become even clearer in August when Egypt and Somalia signed a security pack viewed by some as an attempt to settle scores against Ethiopia then last week Somalia received a delivery of weaponry and ammunition from Egypt Egypt's first military aid package to Somalia in more than 4 decades in another first Egypt will also reportedly contribute
troops to the new African Union Le stabilization mission in Somalia after the current one wraps up at the end of the year meanwhile Somalia says Ethiopian troops of which there are a few thousand as part of the current Mission will not form part of the new Mission if Ethiopia doesn't scrap its deal with Somali land so effectively Ethiopian troops would be kicked out and replaced by Egyptian ones who would be operating in a country bordering Ethiopia much to Ethiopia Chagrin in fact Ethiopia's foreign Ministry accused Somalia of colluding with external actors aiming to destabilize the
region adding that it cannot stand Idol while this happens now we can expect tensions to rise further as reports emerg that Egyptian and Somali militaries will hold joint exercises in Somalia this month so with these tensions looming over the already troubled Horn of Africa region are any efforts to cool things down well yes there have been and in fact still are for example turkey which is itself vying for increased Regional influence has involved Itself by Leading indirect talks between Somalia and Ethiopia in the hopes of resolving the Somali land port dispute these have borne no
fruit so far and since the second and latest round of indirect talks Somalia signed its military agreement with Egypt which only further inflame tensions additionally kouti the small but geost strategically important neighbor of both Ethiopia and Somalia has sought to diffuse the situation by offering Ethiopia exclusive access to one of its ports jibuti aside from naturally fearing Regional conflicts is also keenly aware that Ethiopia's access to the somal land Coast could damage djibouti's highly Port dependent economy with an estimated 95% of Ethiopia's trade passing through djibouti's Port as for the dispute over the grand Ethiopian
Ron Stam attempts at reaching some kind of friendly agreement between Ethiopia Sudan and Egypt over the Nile's water flow have also basically failed with Egypt accusing Ethiopia of indefinitely prolonging the cover of negotiations in order to solidify the status quo I.E Ethiopia's completion of a now largely functional DM the challenge of resolving any of the disputes we discussed in this video are that they are all tied in the ideas of national sovereignty and survival with competition between countries Trea as a zero sum game for example Ethiopia's right to pursue modernization and economic development versus the
cruciality of the Nile's water supply to Egypt or Ethiopia's push for sea access versus somalia's territorial Integrity but what are the prospects that this war of words escalates into some kind of actual conflict well it would require a big escalation but the disputes are evidently already taking on Military overturns with the future possibility of Egyptian troops in Somalia meeting Ethiopian troops along the border some Horn of Africa analysts warn that there is a risk that a confrontation could lead to a low-scale Interstate conflict though another says that the risk of a direct shooting war is
low but a proxy conflict is possible in any case the region currently afflicted by a major war in Sudan Regional rebellions in Ethiopia and a long running Insurgency in Somalia really can't afford another conflict before you go we have an exciting announcement which I'd love to show you now look as British people we often cast a wary eye at our friends across the Atlantic but honestly the last few months have been especially wild we've seen Biden bail from the race after a terrible debate my fellow Americans the red blue divide making way for lurid green
Trump accusing camela of changing her race Vance getting accused of couches endless memes about coconut trees and endless argu over crowd sizes this weird obsession with crowd sizes Obama making a joke Trump talking about Biden like an X he misses RFK junr potentially having worms in his brain before admitting to burying a bear in Central Park oh and an assassination attempt that we all kind of forgot about because of all of the other chaos I mean honestly WTF USA the thing is though while it might be tempting to just roll your eyes at these Shenanigans
these aren't just meanw worthy moments and you know I'm serious because I've not stood up in a video since Co but these incidents actually pose important questions like how much does the genz vote matter this time around how important will online campaigning and social media prove to be what impact are running mates have okay I don't have words for that one these are the kinds of things we'll be explaining in our new nebula original series what to follow USA only on nebula each week we'll take the moments that been dominating internet discourse and explaining the
true politics under the hood look at me pandering to the American audience we'll be releasing new episodes of what to follow every Friday through to the election the fact that it's on nebula means we've been able to take more risks with this series the tone and attitude of the show isn't what you'd expect from tldr I'm not sure we've talked about [ __ ] couches on YouTube before but the journalism and Reporting is exactly the standard you'd expect nebula Support also means that we can do things differently create additional content for you and Tackle topics
that the YouTube algorithm just wouldn't normally allow for it's not just this new series on nebula either though there's also incredible Originals on the platform like modern conflicts from real life law or the upcoming documentary from Tom Nicholas Boomers which takes a provocative look at the lives and Legacy of the baby boom generation plus we also post all of our normal content on nebula ad free and often before it ends up on YouTube if you want to check all of that out plus WTF USA then head to go.
