MOGADISHU: Somalia and Ethiopia announced they were jointly investing in four seaports to attract foreign investment to their two countries, the latest move in a tussle for access to ports along one of the world’s most strategic waterways.
After Somalia’s president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo hosted Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed for a meeting at the presidential palace in Mogadishu, the two leaders issued a joint statement of pledges to cooperate on everything from the development of infrastructure including roads linking the two countries to expanding visa services to promote cultural exchanges.
The statement did not elaborate on which ports the two countries would develop.
The Horn of Africa’s Red Sea coastline extending north of Somalia through Djibouti and Eritrea toward the critical Suez Canal is already dotted with ports owned or run by countries locked in a regional struggle: the United Arab Emirates and its ally Saudi Arabia on one side, and Turkey which backs Qatar on the other.
Landlocked Ethiopia, which has a population of 100 million, has been led since April by 41-year-old former intelligence officer Abiy, who has moved swiftly to assert his nation’s interests on the international stage.
“The leaders further agreed to invest in logistics and service provision specially to leading ports in the continent that can serve both the Indian ocean and the Red Sea,” the statement read.
Somalia, Ethiopia to jointly invest in four seaports on the Red Sea
Somalia, Ethiopia to jointly invest in four seaports on the Red Sea
- Both countries are jointly investing in four seaports to attract foreign investment
- The move is the latest in a tussle for access to ports along one of the world’s most strategic waterways
Southeast Asian countries repatriate nationals from Cambodia as thousands flee scam centers
- Almost 2,800 Indonesians have sought consular support to return home since mid-January
- Malaysia, Philippines also repatriate citizens after Cambodian PM orders crackdown on crime networks
Southeast Asian countries are repatriating their nationals from Cambodia, as thousands are estimated to have fled scam compounds over recent weeks following Phnom Penh’s pledge for a fresh crackdown on the multibillion-dollar industry.
Scam centers have flourished in parts of Southeast Asia in recent years, with hundreds of thousands of people lured to work in illicit operations in countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, according to a 2023 report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
A wave of foreign nationals who were either released or have escaped from scam compounds across Cambodia since mid-January have returned to their home countries in the past week after seeking consular support from their respective embassies, officials said.
“The number of Indonesians formerly involved with online scam syndicates who are reporting to the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh continues to increase. Since Jan. 16 to Jan. 30, we have recorded 2,795 Indonesian nationals,” the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement on Saturday.
At least 36 Indonesian nationals were repatriated on Friday, while another 30 are scheduled to return to Indonesia over the weekend.
Malaysia has also “rescued and repatriated” 29 Malaysians from Cambodia who were “victims of an online syndicate,” its embassy in Phnom Penh said earlier this week, while the Philippines repatriated 13 Filipinos identified as human trafficking victims last Sunday, the Department of Migrant Workers in Manila said in a statement.
Human rights organization Amnesty International estimated that thousands of people have been released or escaped from at least 17 scamming compounds across Cambodia in recent weeks, with interviews indicating that some were “subjected to grave abuses including rape and torture.”
The survivors are also from countries beyond the region, including Brazil, Nigeria, and Bangladesh, Amnesty said, as it called out the Cambodian government for ignoring the growing humanitarian crisis.
“This mass exodus from scamming compounds has created a humanitarian crisis on the streets that is being ignored by the Cambodian government. Amid scenes of chaos and suffering, thousands of traumatized survivors are being left to fend for themselves with no state support,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s regional research director.
“This is an international crisis on Cambodian soil. Our researchers have met people from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. They are in urgent need of consular assistance in order to help get them home and out of harm’s way.”
The latest development comes after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered authorities to step up efforts to eradicate online scam networks in the country, a directive that was followed with the arrest of several key figures.
Among those arrested was Chen Zhi, a Chinese-born Cambodian tycoon, who was extradited to China earlier this month.
Chen was sanctioned by the UK and the US in October last year, with the US Department of Treasury accusing him of running “a transnational criminal empire through online investment scams targeting Americans and others worldwide.”
The Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates that $442 billion was lost to scammers in 2025.
