Landlocked Nation Desperately Seeking Beachfront Property

Bloomberg

Ethiopia’s Thirst Trap
If Ethiopia — the world’s most populous country without sea access — were to put out a Craigslist “wanted” ad for some costal land, Javier Blas imagines it would look something like this: “Landlocked country seeks a stretch of seacoast; payment for lease or purchase is negotiable, but cash is out of the question; motivated buyer is prepared to sweeten any contract with some freebies.” I took the liberty of doctoring up a used Toyota Corolla ad with some Inspect Element-ing and voila, there you have it! Ethiopia’s cry for help:

Although many sellers were too skeptical to do a deal with an impoverished nation that’s in the midst of a civil war, one did take the bait: Somaliland. But there’s a teeny, tiny problem with that: The international community says the deal is illegal. You see, Somaliland is a breakaway nation. It has fewer credentials than a preschooler. The United Nations still says the owner of the land is Somalia. And Ethiopia is no saint, either. On Christmas day, it defaulted on its international sovereign debt. Instead of cash, Javier says it’s offering Somaliland a chunk of its state-owned airline. Oh, and there’s also the fact that Ethiopia says it will accept Somaliland as a legit state, something the breakaway nation has desired since it declared independence in 1991.
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“The deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland is more than a historical oddity; it could deepen difficulties in a crucial choke point for global trade,” he argues. Cutting Somalia in half could have disastrous consequences because it’s located in the Horn of Africa, a region that controls the mouth of the already dangerous Red Sea. More than 15% of the world’s trade passes through the route.