Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has expressed frustration over his failed attempts to engage Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, since the signing of a port agreement with Somaliland.
Speaking at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Abiy highlighted his efforts to meet with President Hassan Sheikh as a friend and neighbour to address the issue at hand.
Abiy revealed that Addis Ababa had made efforts to reach out to President Hassan Sheikh through the Djiboutian leader and IGAD chair, Ismail Guelleh, for a meeting in Djibouti.
Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. Similarly, Ethiopia sought to arrange a meeting through President Yoweri Museveni and President William Ruto during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit hosted by Uganda in January.
Regrettably, this attempt also did not materialize.
During his address to the assembly of African political leaders and delegates, Abiy emphasized Ethiopia’s commitment to being a friendly neighbor, willing to listen to and address any concerns raised by Somalia in a spirit of goodwill.
He reaffirmed that Addis Ababa had no intention of causing harm to Somalia and considered Somalia a friendly country.
“We have zero intention to harm Somalia or create problems in the region.” Abiy categorically stated.
Tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia escalated at the summit following President Hassan Sheikh’s accusation that Ethiopia was attempting to annex part of Somalia’s territory through the controversial sea access deal with Somaliland.
President Hassan Sheikh expressed concerns, stating that the agreement was tantamount to annexing part of Somalia to Ethiopia and altering Somalia’s borders.
He made it clear that Somalia strongly objected to such actions.
