A plane carrying Prof. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia’s beleaguered president landed on 11th January 2025 at well-decorated Addis Ababa Airport and met an unaccustomed warm welcome from Dr. Abiy Ahmed inside the airport, which was intelligibly far away from Abiy’s treatment toward Somalia’s leaders.
Leaders discussed and issued a joint communiqué, which literally clarified their commitment to fulfilling the Ankara Declaration, brokered by Turkiye’s Erdogan.
Key points of the communiqué in a nutshell
According to the communiqué, leaders reaffirmed their respect for each country’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and unity. Leaders also agreed to restore their diplomatic representations in each country’s respective capital, in other words, to reopen fully functioning embassies in Mogadishu and Addis Ababa after a year-long severe rift.
Perhaps, Abiy acknowledges his miscalculation and Hassan comes to the point by pushing Egypt’s involvement in the Horn of Africa, a move that exasperates and in some way intimidates Ethiopia.
Do we, as ordinary Somalis and Ethiopians, have to trust that sharp-tongued Somalia leader Mohamud and temerarious Ethiopian PM Ahmed will settle their differences and bring badly needed sustainable peace into the region?
First and foremost, let us confess that Mohamud and Ahmed for better or for worse, are our leaders and we have to pray for them not to miss the target at this time.
By quoting the well-known Somali proverb, which glorifies unity and warns against unilateralism, “Far kaliya fool ma dhaqdo”, which means directly translated into English “You can not wash your face with one finger” I have to address the elephant in the room and point a constructive finger to Ethiopia and Somalia leaders- Respected leader, you have to encounter reality and see that your people are tired of this rat race. Your people are waiting for your genuine desire to solve the problem at least in a little wider by bringing to the table Djibouti’s and Eritrea’s Presidents.
The absence of these leaders (Djibouti and Eritrea) from Horn of Africa peace negotiations intermingled Egypt’s attempt to use Somalia and Eritrea as proxies against Ethiopia over Nile water dispute, will not solve Horn of Africa problems, but on the contrary complicates the situation.
It is time to see Somalia and Ethiopia leaders working on both countries’ mutual interests in a peaceful, civilized, and diplomatic way by availing international actors’ assistance. Undoubtedly, a combination of diplomatic commitment side-by-side Horn of Africa countries’ cooperation and the international community’s supportive hand is momentous to overcoming obstacles hindering the region’s stability.
Some key Factors Contributing to the Tension between Somalia and Ethiopia
To de-escalate the tension and reach a lasting peace agreement needs to figure out the initial root causes of the tension such as Ethiopia’s desire for presence on the Red Sea and its agreement with Somaliland for access to a port, Eritrea’s suspicion that Ethiopia’s growing influence on the Red Sea could endanger its strategic position and access to key seaports in the region, Egypt’s clear as crystal Nile Water Concerns and its attempts to put pressure on Ethiopia by stretching its arms in Somalia.
Reactions from Ethiopians and Somalis in Social Media Platforms to the Joint Communiqué
By sifting through the reactions to the communiqué by social media users, it seems that Ethiopians have mixed feelings about this move, and this can be seen in their discourses of skeptical and optimistic feedbacks.
Apart from Government officials and supporters, the Joint communiqué was not gratifying to Somalis in Social Media, and one of Somalia’s vociferous opposition figures Abdirahman Abdishakur opposed the Communiqué in a statement published his X account. Abdirahman said, “Although warned against, President Hassan landed in Addis Ababa on February 17 2024 and he was humiliated, once again the president landed yesterday (11.12.2024) in Addis Ababa after Abiy hosted him and was humiliated by receiving an honor greeting from the Ethiopian Navy.
Shortcut path toward peaceful Horn of Africa region
It may sound to your ears like “Easier said than done” advice, but believe me; this is easy if Horn Of Africa leaders particularly Somalia and Ethiopia’s heads of state have the will to hit the nail on the head.
The way the communiqué is linguistically written, the soothing words and sentences chosen to elucidate the message it carries and the photos from the leaders’ meeting in Addis Ababa are in every way full of hope and deserve big applaud from those whose interest is seeing and feeling stable Horn of Africa.
But, beautiful words and smiling leaders were heard and seen before, thus, from now on, since Horn of Africa nations are desperate for peace, Ethiopia and Somalia’s leaders should be at this time more rationalistic and leave a legacy by leading their people into a peaceful and prosperous future.
Ethiopia’s to do list in the mission to stabilize the region
The shortcut path is clear and not thorny when firstly Abiy Ahmed stops dealing with Somalia’s federal states instead of the Federal Government and the way he treats old wounds caused by the atrocity back in the early 1960s by putting salts to those wounds and issuing inflammatory statements either by himself or by his administration.
Secondly, Abiy has to re-evaluate his ambition to seize a gate to Somalia’s Red Sea, because this could flare up the already fragile region’s stability into a full-blown crisis. Ethiopia as a landlocked state needs marital passage for its import and export business and surely it has already Djibouti port. Simply, Abiy has to quit his ambition of a naval base in the Red Sea.
If Ethiopia needs more business ports, that is not weird and can be done by negotiating with Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Djibouti.
Somalia’s to-do list in the mission to stabilize the region
Somalia has to acknowledge that the historical grievance between Somalia and Ethiopia is unforgettable in the books, but it is time to put aside mistrust that is deeply-seated and perceive Ethiopia as a neighboring country, ethno-geopolitically tied to Somalia and a lucrative market. Simply, Prof. Hassan Sheikh should stop signaling Egypt to the AU peace mission in Somalia.
Written by: Abdi Musse Mohamud
The author is chief editor of Finnish-Somali media network, media trainer and peace advocate and. He writes about peace and conflict solution in Horn of Africa. He can be reached via email: abdimusem@yahoo.com
Note: The Article can be freely reproduced, published and distributed by mentioning the source.