Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamad has questioned the presence of African Union Headquarters in Ethiopia. He said,” Ethiopia cannot have it both ways – to be the headquarters of the African Union and to violate the principles founded on AU.” He was commenting on the controversial Memorandum of Understanding that Ethiopia signed with Somaliland.
African Union was founded in 2002. Its headquarter is located in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Somalia, in a dispute with Ethiopia, seems to be calling for the relocations of African Union HQ from Ethiopia.
This year, Ethiopia signed an MOU with Somaliland. According to international law, Somaliland is part of Somalia. Ethiopia is a land locked country so it has been using Djibouti’s ports. This MOU states that Ethiopia will be able to use Somaliland’s ports and will build a navy base there. Ethiopia will declare Somaliland as a country and will give share to Somaliland in its profitable entities. This MOU has not been shown to anyone. This created a dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia because according to international law, Somaliland is part of Somalia.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamad further said the “intimidation” that without Ethiopia al-Shabaab will takeover the country is “unfounded.” We have liberated many parts of a day, he said referring to the Somali govt military operations against al-Shabaab that started from mid-2022. He said we have plans of how to handle Al-Shabab and will have military operations.
Thousands of Ethiopian troops have been deployed to Somalia for peacekeeping operations. President Hassan Sheikh Mohammad wants all Ethiopian troops to leave the country by December. Ethiopia indicated willingness to continue to participate in AU military operations in Somalia.
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