Somaliland

The regional rivals aren't just fighting over freshwater supplies. Cairo sees Addis Ababa's bid for Red Sea access as part of a wider fragmentation strategy.

Somaliland is merely the first signal of a cascading disintegration that, when combined with internal weakness and external interference, could engulf a substantial portion of Africa

Where once Middle Eastern states took little interest in this war-torn Arabic-speaking state on the Horn of Africa, today it is a key arena for Middle Eastern foreign policy and, at times, competition

Egypt is afraid that the new deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia will further destabilise maritime trade in the Red Sea