President Mohamud to travel to Egypt for 7th foreign visit

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is travelling to Egypt today for this seventh foreign visit since he came to office in mid-May.

The President and his entourage will jet off to Cairo Sunday morning barely two days since he arrived from Tanzania where he pitched Somalia’s proposal for admission into the East African Community. The seven-member bloc said in a statement it would expedite Somalia’s entry into the community.

The President’s announced visit to Cairo today comes amid fierce criticism from opponents who have termed the visits as ‘unnecessary’ in light of pressing domestic issues including delays in naming a cabinet over a month since a new Prime Minister was appointed.

However, Villa Somalia has defended the President’s trips as critical in mending relations with the target countries which hit rock bottom during President Mohamed Farmaajo’s term. Relations between Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, UAE and by extension Turkey deteriorated during Farmaajo’s term with UAE cutting off military support and closing hospitals it operated in Mogadishu.

By visiting Egypt, President Mohamud is seeking to heal relations with a key member of the Saudi-UAE axis in the Gulf Crisis. Although Farmaajo announced in mid-2018 that Somalia would not be taking sides in the Crisis, his administration built close ties with Qatar which was instrumental in his election in 2017.

The President was expected to travel to Ethiopia after Kenya but he has since skipped in what sources say is a deliberate move not be warm up to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who was a close ally of Farmaajo. It is now however clear if the president will be visiting Addis Ababa after Egypt.