Cairo, Jan 22:
Egypt will not allow Somalia’s security to be threatened, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi said on Sunday, adding that an agreement between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland is unacceptable.
On Saturday, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Egypt on an official visit amid growing tensions with Ethiopia and was received by Sisi the next day.
“We will not allow the security of our brothers to be threatened,” Sisi said at a joint press conference, commenting on the agreement.
Somali authorities will not allow foreign armies to stay on the country’s territory without an agreement, Mohamud said. Several other issues were discussed, such as strengthening relations between the two countries, he added.
“We are grateful for Egypts unwavering support for our national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. We will work together to advance stability and security in Somalia,” Mohamud said on X later in the day.
On Wednesday, an extraordinary meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS) took place in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, with tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia on the agenda.
On January 2, Somalia recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia, a day after Addis Ababa inked a memorandum of understanding with the breakaway region of Somaliland that granted the landlocked Horn of Africa nation access to the Red Sea. On January 6, the Somali president said he had signed a law nullifying the agreement between Somaliland and Ethiopia.
Somalia collapsed as a unified nation in 1991 with the downfall of Siad Barre’s dictatorship. The international community recognized the Mogadishu-based federal government as the only legitimate authority in Somalia, while chunks of the country in the north and east remain under the control of self-proclaimed and unrecognized Somaliland and Puntland.
