ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said that he has climbed trees and shrubs to negotiate with President Hassan Sheikh about the maritime agreement he signed with Somaliland’s leader Muse Bihi Abdi on the 1st of last month.
In his speech at the 37th session of the African Union Conference, Abiy Ahmed said that the Presidents of Djibouti, Uganda, Kenya, Ismail Omar Guelle, Yoweri Museveni, and Ruto should mediate between him and Hassan Sheikh, and bring him to the negotiation table, but that failed.
Also, Abiy Ahmed indicated that he contacted President Hassan Sheikh over the phone, to calm the diplomatic tension between the two countries, which has now finally gone to the African Union meeting, and the two leaders responded in their speeches.
“We have no plans to cause trouble in Somalia or to create instability in the region or even in the region. After signing the agreement, I did everything I could to meet with President Hassan Sheikh and talk to them in a neighbourly manner, but they did not. That didn’t happen, and we asked our brother President Ismail Omar Guelle to meet me face-to-face with Hassan Sheikh, but he didn’t succeed. He is a good friend, but he has not been successful, and I believe that we can discuss and solve the problem without bringing it to the African Union meeting.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed underlined that Ethiopia is ready to be a good neighbour and to listen to the complaints of Somalia, adding that the leaders of the Horn of Africa region, such as Imael Omar Geelle, Ruto and Museveni are confident that they will play an effective role. can take from the solution of the current crisis between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Abiy Ahmed’s statement came hours after President Hassan Sheikh, who was speaking at a press conference in Addis Ababa yesterday, accused Ethiopia of wanting to take part of Somalia’s territory by force, as a maritime agreement was signed with the Somaliland administration.
The president said that senior officers of the Ethiopian military are in Somaliland working on “preparation for the invasion of the sea” which is a provocation of war and a violation of the territorial sovereignty of Somalia by the government of Abiy.
Hassan Sheikh accused Ethiopian security forces of trying to prevent him from leaving the hotel on Saturday morning, which forced him to travel in the convoy of the president of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh.
