Ethiopia warns rivals against invasion as regional tensions rise

Somaliland has also said that it could lease a section of the coast to Ethiopia’s navy, in exchange for Mr Abiy’s government becoming the first to recognise it as an independent state.

Tensions in the region escalated last month after two Egyptian C-130 military planes arrived in Somalia’s capital to mark the strengthening of ties.

Egypt reportedly plans to send up to 5,000 soldiers to join a new-look African Union (AU) force in Somalia at the end of the year, with another 5,000 to be deployed separately.

An AU force has been in Somalia since 2007 to help the government fight al-Shabab, a jihadist group waging a brutal insurgency in the country.

Ethiopian troops are part of the force, but Somalia has announced that they will have to withdraw next year.

For its part, Egypt has accused Ethiopia of threatening its supply of water from the River Nile following the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) in the northern Ethiopia highlands, from where 85% of the Nile’s waters flow.

The Gerd is Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam project, and Ethiopia sees it as vital to meeting its energy needs.