Kenya has proposed a regional maritime treaty to ease tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia over the latter's agreement with Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland on access to the Red Sea, media reported.
The treaty, suggested in collaboration with Djibouti and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is to regulate the commercial terms for landlocked states in the region to access ports, Korir Sing'oei, Kenya's Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told the outlet.
"We continue to engage with all the parties with a view to ensuring that at the end of the day the region is left all stable," Sing'oei was quoted by the media as saying.
If the proposal is approved, Ethiopia would have "stable and predictable access to maritime resources" to conduct business without any obstacles while respecting Somalia's territorial sovereignty, he added.
On January 1, Ethiopia inked a memorandum of understanding with the unrecognized state of Somaliland, which gave Ethiopia access to the Red Sea and allowed to set up a naval base, was signed by the landlocked Horn of Africa nation and Somaliland.
In response, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud inked a law "nullifying" the memorandum of understanding between Somaliland and Ethiopia. Somalia also demanded denouncement of the deal by the United Nations and the African Union, as well as expelled the Ethiopian envoy to the country and shut down Ethiopian consulates.