SOMALIA PRESIDENT REPORTS HARASSMENT BY ETHIOPIA OFFICIALS AT AU SUMMIT MEETING

At the recent 37th African Union (AU) Summit, Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said armed Ethiopian security forces attempted to block him from entering the organization’s headquarters. The head of state also claimed the same happened to his counterpart, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh.

The incident is an escalation of the Somalia-Ethiopia tiff, one that has now reached the halls of the African Union in Addis Ababa. Mohamud has charged the neighbouring country with attempting to appropriate territory within his nation by agreeing to a sea access agreement with Somaliland, a breakaway entity internationally recognized as part of Somalia. He reiterated that the Ethiopia-Somaliland MoU, signed on January 1st 2024, “is nothing more than annexing part of Somalia to Ethiopia, and changing the borders of Somalia. Mogadishu categorically objects to that.”

Mohamud also stressed the need to respect sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity among member states for the AU to achieve its goals and survive. He concluded that Ethiopia’s move threatened AU principles and stability, calling on the multi-state organization to take a clear stance on the issue to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Under the terms of an MoU agreement, which was signed by Somaliland’s leader Muse Bihi Abdi and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the breakaway territory seeks to provide Ethiopia a 50-year lease on a naval facility in exchange for statehood recognition. Such recognition contravenes the African Union’s position on Somaliland’s status as being part of Somalia.