Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sisi this morning arrived in Eritrea. He was received by Isaias Afwerki, the Eritrean President. Yesterday, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh also arrived in Eritrea.
“During his visit, President Sisi will discuss with the Eritrean leader ways of fostering bilateral relations in different fields, regional developments and the efforts to consolidate stability and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, in a manner that supports the development process and achieves the interests of the region’s peoples,” said Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmi.
Both the Presidents of Somalia and Egypt are visiting Eritrea at the invitation of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
Egypt and Ethiopia have been at the loggerheads for around a decade over a dam called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) built by Ethiopia over river Nile. Ethiopia accuses Egypt of backing anti Ethiopia elements to undermine the construction of GERD. Egypt wants Ethiopia to sign a legally binding agreement about GERD operations, to which Ethiopia does not agree.
Eritrea, hosting the two leaders from Somalia & Egypt, mistrusts the Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed. Ethiopian PM and Eritrean President, in 2018, signed a peace and normalization deal, to end years of bilateral disputes and tensions. But the short lived period of reconciliation has ended. Ethiopia is backing anti Eritrean government elements. Eritrean opposition groups like Brigade Nhamedu, Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) and Transitional Government in Eritrea (TEGE) have held meetings in Ethiopia recently. Eritrea has cut off phone connections with Ethiopia and stopped Ethiopian airline flights from operating in Eritrea.
Somalia is on the verge of a major escalation against Ethiopia. Landlocked Ethiopia wants to gain access to sea through Somaliland which claims to be a country but lacks international recognition. Ethiopia will recognize Somaliland as a country in return for building a naval base in Somaliland, say Somaliland leaders. Somalia vows to stop Ethiopia from setting foot in Somaliland. It has signed defense treaties with Turkey and Egypt recently to undermine the implementation of Ethiopia Somaliland MoU.
It seems that Eritrea, Egypt and Somalia want to form a joint strategy to counter Ethiopia. Another item on agenda is the Sudanese civil war. Both Egypt and Eritrea share border with Sudan and they are supporting Abdul Fattah al Burhan, the Sudanese military chief, against Rapid Support Forces.
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