Addis Ababa appoints an ambassador to Somaliland amid tensions with Mogadishu the news
Today, Friday, Ethiopia sent a new representative to the post of ambassador to Somaliland (which is not recognized internationally) for the first time since the beginning of relations between Addis Ababa and the region.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia, sending the Ethiopian ambassador to Hargeisa, which strongly rejects the agreement announced last January, which gave Ethiopia access to a port on the Red Sea by leasing a 20-kilometer coastal strip. Recognition of the region as an independent state.
Somaliland President Musa Bihi received the credentials of new Ethiopian representative Teshom Hamito in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa and both sides discussed security issues in the Horn of Africa region and ways to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation between them.
The ambassador’s credentials ceremony came a day after Ethiopia condemned the Mogadishu government’s collusion with external powers to destabilize the region.
It should be noted that in 1996, Ethiopia opened a liaison office in Hargeisa, which handled matters of economic and political cooperation, but the office did not have full diplomatic status, as Ethiopia did not recognize the independence of Somaliland. the time
Turkey is leading mediation between Ethiopia and Somalia to settle the dispute stemming from the agreement between Addis Ababa and Hargeisa, and a second round of talks between the two sides is scheduled for next September.
Somaliland has a population of 5.7 million, and has its own constitution, passport, army and currency, as well as a government and president, as well as regular direct elections, but the absence of international recognition remains an obstacle. Achieving economic development requires financing and support.
On June 26, 1960, Somaliland – located in the north – gained its independence from Britain and the region’s leaders decided to join the south voluntarily to achieve the dream of a “Greater Somalia” and unity between the south and the north. The south maintained its independence shortly after it was declared on July 1 of the same year, but leaders of the Somali National Movement led a military coup in 1988 demanding secession.
After the fall of the central government in Somalia in 1991, Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence on May 18 of the same year, but it has yet to receive any international or regional recognition.