The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh, is visiting Egypt. He arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for a 2-day official visit.
Hassan Sheikh, since May 2022 when he took office, has been regularly visiting Egypt and Eritrea. Somalia improved relations with the countries after Hassan Sheikh took office. Somalia’s relations with Ethiopia deteriorated during Hassan Sheikh tenure. Interestingly, both Egypt and Eritrea are not on good terms with Ethiopia. Somalia and Ethiopia are also locked into a dispute. Growing co operation among Somalia, Egypt and Eritrea can be understood in the context of broader regional politics.
According to the Somali ambassador to Egypt, President Hasan Sheikh will sign a security pact with Egyptian President in coming hours. Details of the agreement have not been made public.
The mandate of African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) is set to expire at the end of this year. Egypt is not part of the existing mission. A new mission by the name of AUSSOM is being planned. Reportedly troops from Egypt and Djibouti could be deployed for the new African Union mission in Somalia. Egypt and Eritrea are training Somalia’s ground, air and naval forces as well.
Growing Egyptian influence in Somalia is ringing alarm bells in Ethiopia. Egypt has long been interested in building a military base in the Ethiopian neighborhood. Ethiopia and Egypt are still at loggerheads over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) built by Ethiopia over river Nile. Ethiopia has been accusing Egypt of creating unrest and instability in Ethiopia.
Thousands of Ethiopian troops are operating in Somalia. The troops are either part of ATMIS or deployed under bilateral arrangement between Ethiopian government and Federal Member States (FMS) of Somalia. Federal Government of Somalia wants complete withdrawal of all Ethiopian troops by the end of this year, while some FMS are opposing Mogadishu’s decision.
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