Borkena
Toronto – Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on Monday accused Ethiopian troops of launching what it called “Blatant aggression” in Doolow.
It came at a time when the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Somalia is in Ethiopia for what appears to be a follow up meeting over the Ankara Declaration which was meant to end hostility between the two neighborly countries. Three military bases of the Somalia government troops are reportedly attacked.
In a statement the Ministry released on Monday, It alleges “At approximately 10:00 AM this morning, Ethiopian forces launched an unprovoked and unexpected attack on positions stationed by the Somali National Army (SNA) in Doolow, located in the Gedo region.” The area is a border between the two countries.
Ethiopia has not immediately remarked on the alleged attack on Somali Forces in Doolow.
The Ministry’s statement further alleges there were casualties. However, the statement unspecified the number of deaths and injuries.
“The act of aggression comes at a time when the Federal Government of Somalia is engaged in peace building endeavours to advance the Ankara Declaration, with a high level Somali delegation dispatched today to Addis Ababa,” The statement further claimed.
On the same day, Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, Somalia’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was in Cairo where he met with Badr Abdelatty, his Egyptian counterpart. According to Egyptian News sources, their discussion focused on “facilitation” on the “formation of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).” The mission is an African Union initiative and will replace the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) , which is also an African Union Mission, later this month. The context under which Egypt is involved in the discussion of facilitation of the transition to AUSSOM is unclear.
Somalia and Egypt signed a military pact this August. There was a report of a bilateral arrangement to deploy 5,000 Egyptian troops to Somalia. Egypt has also expressed interest to deploy additional 5000 troops as part of AUSSOM peace keeping force. Mogadishu’s decision to allow Egyptian forces to deploy has angered Ethiopia. It is seen as a national security concern as Egypt and Ethiopia have been involved in hostilities over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Jubaland and Puntland, members of the Federal government of Somalia, have opposed the arrangement for the presence of Egyptian troops in Somalia.
The foreign ministers of the two countries (Egypt and Somalia) have reached, as reported by Ahram which cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, an agreement on strategic partnership in the areas of politics, economy, trade, security, military, culture, education, and capacity-building.
Somalia’s claim of Ethiopian troops attack in Doolow is not independently verified
Background to the Ethiopia-Somalia tension
Ethiopia and Somalia have fought a devastating war in the late 1970’s after the latter invaded the former controlling more than 700 kilometers of land. It lasted for one year. Somalia’s invasion was to annex the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. It ended when the Somalia forces were defeated after one year.
However, The recent tension is related to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland on January 1, 2024. On the part of Ethiopia it was a quest to get access to the sea. Had the MoU been finalized and implemented, Ethiopia was to get 20 kilometers of coastal land in Somaliland for military and commercial purposes on a 50 years rental basis. Somaliland was to get recognition as an independent state. There was no official disclosure although Ethiopian state-owned media outlets hyped the matter as if Ethiopia got access to the sea. Somalia saw the development as a violation of its sovereignty although Somaliland broke away from it in 1991 and has been existing as a de facto state since then.
After nearly a year of tension between Ethiopia and Somalia which triggered new alliances in the region, the two countries signed the Ankara Declaration on December 11 in which they agreed to leave behind their hostility. As it turns out, the declaration did not take root, and the two courtiers are in a tense relationship again.
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I told you a million times that the Horn of Africa is a strange place. Those three countries of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia always behave in totally weird way that have become impossible to tell what they will do a minute from now even to the most experienced experts. You remember the big hoopla in 2018-2019 when PM Abiy and Al-Toweel Isu were inseparable. Isu even did the unthinkable. He came all the way to Addis/Finfinne to address the people of Ethiopia in Amharic. I thought decades long stupid feud that caused the deaths of thousands was over. I was so taken in by emotion that I wan’t aware I was crying. But look at them now.
Now, we just read news that a high level delegation of Somalia had headed to Addis/Finfinne to discuss and brush up the final details of the peace agreement the leaders of Ethiopia and Somali signed in Ankara just less than two weeks ago. Then came this news of battles. What do you make of this? The president of Turkey is packing up to travel to both Somalia and Ethiopia less than two weeks from now for the big celebration. But now this! He may be saying ‘Niggers, niggers, niggers! You niggers never cease to amuse me’. Somebody should counsel him that the Horn of Africa is totally unpredictable. It is the weirdest place on earth. The leaders of those three countries begin to act in the strangest ways imaginable once they enter the palace. These days, one thinks he is the incarnate of Marx, Lenin and Mao traveling all the way to Moscow to lecture Putin about ‘Unipolar and multipolar’. The other one is telling us he is another Aristotle and Socrates rolled into one. The 3rd one is jumping up and down possessed with the ‘zaar’ of something ‘Woyne’ and trying his best to raise Siad Barre from the dead. What a weird region indeed!!!