Ethiopia wants to take more land from Somalia, says president

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud yet again slammed Ethiopia over its 'obsession' with the country, arguing that the Addis Ababa regime is determined to annex its territory despite having had a share in previous years without resistance.

Without mentioning the exact annexed area, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says since colonial times, Ethiopia has hived part of its territory and now wants to make advances contrary to international law.

"Ethiopia occupies Somali land from colonial times and aims to take more now," said President Hassan Sheikh during an address in the country's parliament on Saturday.

According to him, the recent defense pacts with Egypt and Turkey to safeguard Somalia won't unsettle the Horn of Africa region but will check Ethiopian ambitions in Somalia. The defense pacts were signed early this year following an agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland.

Ethiopia, he added, 'cannot have it both ways - to be the headquarters of the African Union and to violate the principles founded on AU'. The agreement allows Ethiopia to access 20 kilometers of the Red Sea in exchange for recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state.

In his scathing attack, Hassan Sheikh maintained that the defeat of Al-Shabaab does not necessarily depend on Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopian troops are part of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) but Somalia wants them out ahead of the new mission dubbed the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).

He said the “intimidation” that without Ethiopia al-Shabaab will take over the country is “unfounded.”

"We have liberated many parts of our country from Khawaarij without Ethiopia; they did not fire one shell a day," he said referring to the Somali government military operations against al-Shabaab that started in mid-2022.

Last week, during his address to parliament as well, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed emphasized the nation’s “unwavering interest” in accessing the Red Sea through “peaceful means.”

Abiy, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2019, assured legislators that Ethiopia does not seek this access “through war or force” and insisted that the right to Red Sea access is valid “under any law, by any country’s experience.”

On the agreement with Somaliland to secure Ethiopian sea access in exchange for recognizing Somaliland, he noted that there were “attempts to portray” the agreement as though “Ethiopia entered an agreement with Somaliland to take a region of Somalia.”

According to Addis Standard, he clarified that Ethiopia initially proposed a 99-year lease but agreed to Somaliland’s preference for a “50-year term.”

GAROWE ONLINE