Trade and ports
Trade across the Ethiopia–Somaliland border: Tog Wajaale, Jigjiga and the Gaashamo routes
Most trade between Ethiopia's Somali Region and Somaliland is small-scale and outside formal customs. Livestock goes north to Somaliland and on to Berbera, worth $170 million in Somaliland's 2020 export figures, and food, electronics and clothes go south. Tog Wajaale is the main formal crossing. A 2021 Rift Valley Institute study counted about 42 livestock lorries a day on four small routes near Gaashamo alone, with charges of $50 to $200 a lorry depending on the route.
The short version
Ethiopia's Somali Regional State and Somaliland share a long land border. A 2021 Rift Valley Institute (RVI) study by Mustafe M. Abdi says that small-scale informal trade across this border "far exceeds" formal trade (RVI, Regularly Irregular, October 2021, p. 5). Tog Wajaale is the main crossing for formal trade on the Berbera corridor (same source, p. 7). The study's fieldwork took place in the Gaashamo area and in Jigjiga in March 2021 (same source).
What crosses the border
- North to Somaliland: sheep, goats, cattle and camels. Somaliland's trade figures put its 2020 exports of these animals at $170 million, and the study says most of them come from Ethiopia's Somali Region. Many are shipped on from Berbera port (RVI 2021, p. 12; Somaliland Ministry of Finance, Trade Statistical Bulletin 2020).
- South to Ethiopia: sugar, rice, cooking oil, pasta, wheat flour, canned fish and biscuits, mostly from Burco. Electronics, cosmetics, clothes, building materials and medicines come from Hargeisa and Tog Wajaale (RVI 2021, p. 12). Ethiopian federal and regional rules ban imports of medicines by this route (same source, note 26).
- Seasons: almost half of the year's livestock exports go in the three months before the Hajj, a period known locally as arrafo. A lorry carries about 85 sheep and goats in a normal season and up to 150 at that time (same source, p. 13).
How the rules changed
- 1994 to 2002: trade centred on Hartasheikh, and lorries with Somaliland number plates could drive freely inside the Somali Region (RVI 2021, p. 16).
- From 2002: the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) closed the Hartasheikh route and began seizing goods it called contraband. Much of the trade moved to Tog Wajaale, which became the main formal crossing and a distribution centre for goods brought in containers from Berbera (same source, p. 15).
- 2010: before then, the Somali Region had customs offices only in Jigjiga and Kebribeyah. In 2010 the federal government opened customs points at Tog Wajaale, Harshin, Hartasheikh, Daroor and Gaashamo. It also let three licensed traders in each zone import rice, pasta, sugar, cooking oil and wheat flour duty-free (same source, p. 15).
- 2012: the asphalt road from Jigjiga to Gode was finished, and more goods began to travel by lorry instead of on foot (same source, p. 17).
- August 2018: most trade restrictions ended when a new regional administration took office (same source, p. 17).
The Gaashamo routes and what they charge
The study looked at four small crossings north of Gaashamo town: Dabagorayaale, Haaji Saalah, Duruqsi and Ballidhiig. Together they saw 36 to 48 lorries a day in both directions and an average of 42 livestock lorries a day going north in a normal season. The livestock count rose to 126 a day in the third month of arrafo (RVI 2021, pp. 12–13, table I).
- Dabagorayaale: drivers said they paid the regional Special (Liyu) Police $50 to $70 to avoid unloading for inspection. One driver put it at up to $50 for a lorry of 12 tonnes or more. The study calls this an informal and illegal charge (same source, pp. 19–20).
- Haaji Saalah: the Liyu Police check lorries for security but charge no fees (same source, p. 21).
- Duruqsi: this was the busiest of the four routes, with 14 to 17 lorries a day from each side. There is no checkpoint in the town. At Halhalis, 25 km to the south, lorries bringing goods from Somaliland paid $150 to $200, and livestock lorries going north paid $80 to $120. In 2016 and 2017 the charges had been up to $250 and $170. On the Somaliland side a district development fee of $10 to $30 a lorry applies (same source, p. 22).
Plans for the corridor
The study notes that a Hargeisa bypass and a dry port at Berbera, both under way in 2021, were adding to Tog Wajaale's importance (RVI 2021, p. 7). For the port, see Somalia's seaports. For Somaliland's economy, see Somaliland's economy. For the trade south of Bosaso, see Galkayo and the Bosaso trade corridor. For Somalis living in Ethiopia, see Ethiopia (Somali refugees and the Somali Region).
Sources
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