Somalia, Eritrea re-affirm ties in new pact following President’s visit

GOOBJOOG NEWS|ASMARA:  Somalia and Eritrea have renewed bilateral ties following President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s visit to the Red Sea nation affirming relations which started during former President Mohamed Farmaajo’s term after a freeze of over a decade.

A communique from President Mohamud and his host Isaias Afwerki noted that the two countries had agreed to foster relations in areas of social and economic cooperation, cultural and scientific and technological collaboration, defence and security and environmental protection.

The two leaders signed the agreement Tuesday morning after three days state visit by President Mohamud to Eritrea. During the visit, the President visited the Somali forces who had been training in Eritrea. The President met with the land forces and the navy at Massawa naval base.

It was unclear whether the two leaders set timelines for the return of the troops who have been in Eritrea for about three years. The soldiers were clandestinely sent to Eritrea in 2018 under the guise of going to work in Qatar but it later emerged they were undergoing military training. The revelations sparked outrage in Somalia with parents demanding to know the whereabouts of their sons.

The situation escalated with a UN report alleging that some of the soldiers might have been deployed to fight in the Tigray war in northern Ethiopia.

The resumption of ties between Somalia and Eritrea in 2018 under the Horn Alliance framework ticked off a protest from Djibouti which rebuked Mogadishu for engaging with its enemy. Djibouti said it was not ready to join the alliance pending the resolution of disputes with Eritrea which it accuses of seizing part of its territory in the Dumeira Islands and holding on to its prisoners of war.

The UN lifted sanctions against Eritrea in November 2018 after about a decade. The UN had accused the Red Sea nation of arming the militant group Al-Shabaab.