Somali president to pay maiden visit to Ethiopia to mend ties

The trip which is part of the Mohamud Horn of Africa regional tour was planned last month but delayed over undisclosed reasons.  In the past, the president visited Eritrea, Kenya, and Djibouti.

News Keydmedia Online
27 September 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the president of Somalia is scheduled to pay an official state visit to nighbouring Ethiopia in the coming days, KON has learned.

The president will hold talks with PM Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations and cooperation in security, trade, and other areas of mutual interest.

An advance team for the visit of the president is currently in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where they are organizing his reception. No date has been set for the departure.

The trip which is part of the Mohamud Horn of Africa regional tour was planned last month but delayed over undisclosed reasons.  In the past, the president visited Eritrea, Kenya, and Djibouti.

Diplomatic sources revealed to KON that Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed who attended Mohamud’s inauguration on June 9 in Mogadishu is not happy with the new leadership at Villa Somalia.

Abiy has had a close friendship with former Somali president Mohamud Abdullahi Farmajo, the predecessor of Hassan Sheikh. Addis Ababa lowered ties after the president’s Egypt visit.

The Egyptian presidency said in July that El-Sisi and Mohamud held discussions on the Blue Nile waters, specifically the continuing controversy surrounding Ethiopia’s GERD filling.

Villa Somalia has denied that the Nile dam issue was on the agenda of the talks between the two leaders.

The Ethiopia visit comes at a time when the Ethiopian military generals recently paid a visit to several regions in Somalia for talks on the creation of a security buffer zone in the country.

This follows a series of Al-Shabaab attacks inside and at the border in July that raised the eyebrows in Addis Ababa, seeing a new front and threat to the security of Ethiopia.

KEYDMEDIA English