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sarcasm
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Power Play Shifts in Horn of Africa as Somalia Elects New Leader | Somalian president has ties with Tigray (Bloomberg)

Post by sarcasm » 18 May 2022, 04:53


Power Play Shifts in Horn of Africa as Somalia Elects New Leader



President Mohamud has long-standing ties with Ethiopian rebels.


Mohamud returns for second term as president after five years

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s return as Somalia’s president is set to reshape the war-torn nation’s relationship with neighboring Eritrea and Ethiopia, with far-reaching repercussions across the Horn of Africa region.

Mohamud, 66, who governed Somalia from 2012 to 2017, beat incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known locally as Farmajo, in a final round of voting to reclaim the post on May 15.

While Farmajo forged close relations with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Mohamud has long-standing ties with the rulers of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, who fought a war with Abiy’s forces and its Eritrean allies from late 2020 until a truce was agreed in March.


The power shift has emboldened the Tigrayans, who are considering attacking the Eritrean capital of Asmara, according to three diplomats in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to comment. That would open a new chapter in the Ethiopian conflict, which has already claimed thousands of lives.

Tigray President Debretsion Gebremichael wrote to Mohamud on Monday congratulating him on his victory and expressing his “readiness to cooperate in the overall stability of the region, building upon excellent pre-existing relations.” And Getachew Reda, a senior Tigrayan leader, said in a Twitter posting on the Somali elections that Isaias’s “pharaonic ambition in the Horn of Africa is decidedly unraveling.”

Continue reading https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/power-play- ... -1.1766949

sarcasm
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Posts: 10186
Joined: 23 Feb 2013, 20:08

Re: Power Play Shifts in Horn of Africa as Somalia Elects New Leader | Somalian president has ties with Tigray (Bloomber

Post by sarcasm » 19 May 2022, 08:38

“Eritrea‘s alliances are always opportunistic and short-lived,” with Isaias already forging new ties with Amhara nationalists who have been fighting the Tigrayans over disputed land since November 2020, Hagmann said.

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