Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday in a further sign of thawing diplomatic ties following mediation by Turkiye to end a row over a maritime deal between Addis Ababa and Somaliland.
Abiy was received at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde international airport by president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and senior Somali government officials, Somali and Ethiopian state media reported.
A Somali presidential source told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that Abiy and Mohamud would discuss the implementation of an agreement brokered in December by Turkiye.
The agreement, known as the “Ankara Declaration”, sought to end a year of diplomatic tensions between Somalia and landlocked Ethiopia triggered by a January 2024 pact between Abiy’s government and Somaliland to gain access to the sea.
Ethiopia and Somaliland said their January 2024 agreement would have led to Addis Ababa recognising the self-declared republic’s independence in return for Ethiopia’s access to the sea.
That deal angered Somalia’s federal government, which recalled its ambassador from Addis Ababa and sought the international community’s condemnation of the maritime pact.
Somalia also initially threatened to expel Ethiopian troops serving an African Union protection force and exclude them from future deployment.
It has, however, since set aside its threat following its rapprochement with Ethiopia.
The fate of Ethiopia’s maritime agreement with Somaliland remains uncertain, although analysts say the Ankara Declaration effectively cancelled it.
On 22 February, Somali and Ethiopian military chiefs agreed to develop a “Status of Force Agreement” for Ethiopian troops to continue to operate in Somalia, according to a joint communique.
It came days after Abiy Ahmed and president Mohamud met in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of an annual African Union leaders’ summit.
Following the meeting, Abiy declared a “renewed partnership” between Ethiopia and Somalia which he said “requires consistent cultivation”.
Ethiopia is a leading contributor of troops to an African Union military mission that has operated in Somalia under different names since 2007.
