Mereja Forum

[Fiyameta]

There are at least 3,000 Ethiopian troops in Somalia under the current AU mission, according to the Reuters news agency.

Somalia has announced that Ethiopian troops would not be part of the AU force from next January. Ethiopia sees this as a slap in the face.

The plan is for up to 5,000 Egyptian soldiers to join a new-look African Union force at the end of the year, with another 5,000 reportedly to be deployed separately. Egypt sees its military deal with Somalia as “historic” - in the words of Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Djibouti

Strains between Ethiopia and Djibouti, partly due to Ethiopian complaints about Djibouti’s port fees and excessive red tape, may factor into Abiy’s calculus.

Over the last two decades, successive Ethiopian administrations have stressed that the country is over-reliant on neighbouring Djibouti’s port, which handles the bulk of Ethiopian trade. But, before the January memorandum, the closest Ethiopia got to port ownership was a 2017 agreement with Somaliland under which Addis Ababa was to take a 19 per cent share in Berbera. The deal fell through, reportedly because Ethiopia failed to make timely payments.

[Justice Seeker]