Ethiopia “respects the territorial integrity of Somalia”

[Deeq A.]

Ms. Catriona Laing, the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary- General and Head of United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske-Selassie met in Addis Ababa on 30 April 2024.

Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tension in the Horn of Africa appear to be bearing fruit. The Ethiopian government told Western diplomats its “commitment to respecting the territorial integrity and political unity of the Federal Republic of Somalia in line with African Union Charter and the international law.

Ethiopia made it clear to diplomats that it never promised to grant diplomatic recognition to Somaliland administration nor did it take steps to formalise the maritime MoU in violation of the territorial integrity of Somalia. Last week, the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary- General and Head of United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) met the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske-Selassie. Atske-Selassie reaffirmed the position of the Ethiopia on the political unity and territorial integrity of Somalia, and cited the presence of Ethiopian troops in Southern Somalia and new commercial agreements with Puntland State of Somalia as “solid examples about the fraternal relations between Ethiopia and Somalia.”

Western diplomats have intensified their efforts to prevent anti-peace elements from exploiting tensions in the region. Western diplomats behind Somalia-Somaliland talks share the common understanding that Muse Bihi Abdi, the President of Somaliland administration, had crossed the line when he signed a maritime Memorandum of Understanding with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed to grant the landlocked country a fifty-year lease on a naval base in Northern Somalia.

Upon returning to Hargeisa Bihi claimed the maritime MoU reflected the letter and the spirit of all agreements that Somaliland administration signed with the Federal Government of Somalia, including the revamped agreement signed by Interior Ministers of the Federal Government of Somalia and Somaliland administration in Djibouti in December 2023, just a week before the maritime MoU was signed in Addis Ababa.

© Puntland Post, 2024

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