An Egyptian warship has delivered a second major cache of weaponry to Somalia

An Egyptian warship has delivered a second major cache of weaponry to Somalia including anti-aircraft guns and artillery, port and military officials said on Monday, in a move likely to stoke further friction between the two countries and Ethiopia. Ties between Egypt and Somalia have grown this year over their shared mistrust of Ethiopia, prompting Cairo to send several plane loads of arms to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, after the countries signed a joint security pact in August. Ethiopia angered Mogadishu by agreeing a preliminary deal in January with the breakaway region of Somaliland to lease land for a port in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia. Egypt, at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s construction of a vast hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, has condemned the Somaliland deal. The Egyptian warship began unloading the weapons on Sunday, one diplomat said. Security forces blocked off the quayside and surrounding roads on Sunday and Monday as convoys carried the weapons to a defence ministry building and nearby military bases, two port workers and two military officials told Reuters. (Reuters)