THE self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland has given Ethiopia free access to a dock which will allow the land-locked country to receive critical food supplies, Ethiopian officials announced on Thursday. Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Ayenew Bitewlign confirmed that Ethiopia has been given formal permission to use the port of Berbera in the north-eastern rump of former Somalia. Ethiopia has been land-locked since Eritrea — a former Ethiopian province — declared its independence in 1993, taking with it the entirety of the country’s Red Sea coastline. Government emergency services reported last week that there are around one million drought-stricken people in south-eastern Ethiopia, close to the border with Somaliland.