Friday August 9, 2024
Egypt’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mohamed Omar Gad, on Thursday met with Ethiopia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs – Taye Atske-Selassie.
According to a brief disclosure from the Ministry, bilateral, regional and multilateral “issues of concern” were discussed.
Sudan, “Al-Shabaab threat to Somalia” and the region as well as the Post-ATMIS situation in Somalia are among those that were discussed, according to an update from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.
It appears that Ethiopia has expressed “concern” about the situation in Somalia in the post-ATMOS circumstances.
The update from the ministry came at a time when news was emerging about Egypt and Djibouti expressing interest to send “troops” to Somalia.
There has been an activity on the part of Egypt to militarize the difference between Ethiopia and Somalia.
On August 8, 2024 – Somaliland issued a statement protesting Egyptian remarks during a joint presser with Turkey regarding the agreement with Ethiopia. “The statements made regarding the MoU between the Republic of Somaliland and Ethiopia are inaccurate, misleading, and disregard the sovereign rights of our people,” Somaliland said.
Dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia revolves around the latter’s deal with Somaliland to get an access to a 20 kilometers stretch of coastal area in exchange for recognition for Somaliland statehood. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on January 1, 2024.
But what appears to be an official hostile relation between Egypt and Ethiopia has now been over a decade. Egypt sees the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project a “national security threat” and has been attempting to destabilize Ethiopia. If true, Egypt’s deployment of troops to Somalia.