Ethiopia envoy in Somalia hits back at Arab League

[Deeq A.]

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Ethiopia’s ambassador to Somalia, Suleiman Dedefo, has launched a scathing attack on the Arab League, accusing the regional body of acting as a tool of Egypt’s foreign policy rather than addressing the crises facing its own members.

His remarks come just days after former Somaliland president Muse Bihi Abdi admitted that Somalia’s diplomatic offensive forced Ethiopia to abandon a landmark sea access deal with Hargeisa.

In a series of pointed social media posts, Dedefo criticized the League for repeatedly targeting Ethiopia over its use of the Nile while ignoring wars, displacement, and hunger in the Arab world.

“Is the Arab League really a League of Arab Nations, or the League for execution of Egypt’s anti-Ethiopian policy?” he wrote, arguing that the body “has badly exposed itself that it doesn’t represent the rest of Arab nations.”

The comments followed a statement from the Arab League condemning Ethiopia for pressing ahead with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without a binding water-sharing agreement. Cairo has long argued the dam threatens its water security, while Addis Ababa insists it is exercising a sovereign right to harness its own resources.

Dedefo dismissed Egypt’s concerns as “utterly baseless,” stressing that Ethiopia will continue to build more dams in the future. “Egypt’s rulers must acknowledge that their eternal fantasy of destabilizing Ethiopia will not succeed and should return to cooperation that benefits the peoples of both nations,” he warned.

A parallel diplomatic setback

The envoy’s defiant tone comes at a time of heightened pressure on Addis Ababa. Over the weekend, former Somaliland president Muse Bihi admitted that Somalia’s lobbying campaign had derailed Ethiopia’s high-stakes plan to lease a stretch of Somaliland’s coastline in exchange for potential recognition of Somaliland’s independence.

In his first major interview since leaving office, Bihi revealed that Mogadishu’s appeals to regional and international bodies — including the African Union, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — left Ethiopia politically cornered.

Egypt, he said, led the charge within the Arab League, while the OIC unanimously sided against Ethiopia. At one stage, Ethiopia was even warned that the AU might consider relocating its headquarters from Addis Ababa, a threat that forced Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to step back.

“On our side, we were ready, but Ethiopia could not proceed,” Bihi said. “Neither I nor Abiy Ahmed expected it to unfold this way.”

The collapse of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on January 1, 2024, marked a major diplomatic victory for Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who immediately branded the pact an attack on Somali sovereignty and mobilized international support to shut it down.

Taken together, Dedefo’s broadside against the Arab League and Bihi’s candid admissions highlight Ethiopia’s growing diplomatic squeeze. On one front, Addis Ababa is under fire over the Nile; on another, it has been forced to retreat on its ambition to secure long-sought sea access through Somaliland.

For Prime Minister Abiy, who has called Ethiopia’s dependence on Djibouti’s ports a “geographical prison,” the setbacks show just how determined Somalia and its allies are to block Ethiopia’s ambitions.

As Addis Ababa prepares to inaugurate the GERD — a project hailed as a symbol of national pride — Ethiopia finds itself facing a stark reality: its push for water security and maritime access is colliding head-on with regional politics, leaving it increasingly isolated.