{"id":837676,"date":"2026-10-12T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=837676"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:40:00","slug":"somalia-neutral-ethiopia-eritrea-el-alamein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837676","title":{"rendered":"Somalia says it is neutral in Ethiopia-Eritrea tension after joining El Alamein declaration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Somali<\/p>\n

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in an official portrait on January 17, 2022 (Government of Somalia, Wikimedia Commons, public domain) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

Somalia’s deputy foreign minister said his country is neutral in the growing tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea.<\/p>\n

Hassan Mohamed Ali told BBC Somali in an interview on Sunday that Somalia’s position is peaceful and neutral. He said Mogadishu has historical, geographic and religious ties with both countries.<\/p>\n

Somalia joined Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea last week in the El Alamein declaration. That statement rejects unilateral action that harms the downstream Nile states of Egypt and Sudan. It also says freedom of shipping on the Red Sea and the management and control of the Red Sea fall under the coastal states alone. The four leaders who met in Egypt were President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, BBC Amharic reported.<\/p>\n

The joint declaration called for political and peaceful solutions to tensions and disagreements in the Horn of Africa. It said regional stability rests on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, good neighbourliness and non-interference in internal affairs.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia rejected the gathering after it ended. Addis Ababa said geographic and historical facts about the Nile and the Red Sea cannot be changed by political narratives or by force, BBC Amharic reported. The meeting took place as Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties and traded accusations over the war in Tigray.<\/p>\n

Hassan Mohamed Ali said Somalia has cooperation agreements with both Ethiopia and Eritrea on different issues and is watching regional change closely. He said Mogadishu is working to protect its own and the region’s interests. “We have good relations with all countries. In this regard, nothing has changed,” he told the BBC. Asked whether Somalia was holding a neutral line inside the tension, he said Mogadishu has good relations with all of them and that, as far as Somalia knows, nothing has changed in those relationships.<\/p>\n

He also said the region faces many challenges. The main focus, he said, should be avoiding new problems and dealing with existing ones that affect security, the economy and freedom of movement. Somalia, he added, has a duty to play its part on regional issues while protecting its national interests and unity.<\/p>\n

Somalia and Ethiopia had a serious dispute after Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, which Somalia rejects as a breakaway region. Turkey helped them settle that dispute. Ethiopia has kept troops in Somalia for more than two decades to support the Somali government and fight al-Shabaab, BBC Amharic noted. After Mogadishu joined the four-country alignment, many people said that step could damage the Ethiopia-Somalia relationship because the El Alamein text runs against Ethiopia’s Nile and Red Sea interests.<\/p>\n

Jawar Mohammed, a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, wrote on X on Monday that a move by President Hassan Sheikh of Somalia was “a wise move.” The Horn African Guy, who writes about the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, included Somalia’s neutrality statement in an Ethiopia war update on X on Monday. In the same update it reported that a loud explosion was heard in Addis Ababa shortly after midnight, and that the target, the extent of damage and any casualties remained unclear.<\/p>\n

Martin Plaut, a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, wrote on X on Sunday that the UN Security Council will hold closed consultations on the Horn of Africa on Tuesday, October 13. He said the United States requested the meeting because of the escalation in northern Ethiopia, and that the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa would brief. The New Humanitarian published an analysis on Monday saying Eritrean forces had crossed into Tigray and that Ethiopia hit back with two days of drone strikes. Local sources told the outlet that Eritrean forces took part in clashes at Adi Hageray, about 60 kilometers from Shire in northwestern Tigray. Eritrea has denied the incursion claims and has framed Addis Ababa’s accusations as a pretext to grab the Red Sea port of Assab.<\/p>\n

The Somalia statement comes as federal forces in Ethiopia advance toward the Eritrean border inside Tigray, and as Cairo, Asmara, Khartoum and Mogadishu try to show a common line on the Nile and the Red Sea. Mereja found no separate public reply from Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry to the deputy minister’s neutrality comments by Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n