Landlocked Ethiopia May Establish Naval Base at Kenyan Port
- Government may consider facility at port of Lamu near Somalia
- Ethiopia, Kenya signed accord in May to develop land at site
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Ethiopia, landlocked since the secession of Eritrea a quarter century ago, may consider building a naval base in neighboring Kenya to strengthen its military capabilities, the head of the state shipping company said.
The facility could form part of a port the Kenyan government is building at Lamu, said Roba Megerssa Akawak, chief executive officer of the state-owned Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise. The 390 billion-shilling ($3.87 billion) harbor near the border with Somalia is part of the so-called Lapsset project, a transport corridor that envisions linking Ethiopia and South Sudan to Kenya.