AFRICA/ERITREA - Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia leaders hold Tripartite Summit in Asmara

Asmara (Agenzia Fides) - A joint tripartite committee of the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia will work to promote strategic cooperation in all areas. This was agreed by the presidents of the three countries during their meeting yesterday, October 10, in the Eritrean capital Asmara. The Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki welcomed his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Somali counterpart Hassnan Sheikh Mohamud, who hosted the meeting. In a joint statement, the heads of state of the three countries stressed the need to respect the fundamental principles of international law, in particular the greatest possible respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the countries in the region. They agreed to increase and deepen cooperation and coordination in order to improve the capacity of the Somali authorities to face the various internal and external challenges and to enable the Somali army to fight terrorism in all its forms and protect its territory and maritime borders.
A position that is particularly aimed at Ethiopia, which signed an agreement with the separatist Somali region of Somaliland on January 1 of this year (see Fides, 9/1/2024). According to this agreement, in exchange for the transfer of a naval base and a stretch of coast from Ethiopia, Somaliland will be recognized as an autonomous state separate from the rest of Somalia. To date, no state has recognized Somaliland's independence. The government in Mogadishu responded to this agreement first by strengthening relations with Turkey (see Fides, 22/2/2024) and later by establishing a strategic partnership with Egypt (see Fides, 30/8/2024), which has now been extended to Eritrea, another historical adversary of Ethiopia. On the sidelines of the meeting, the presidents of Somalia and Egypt also issued a joint statement reaffirming their support for the unity, independence, integrity and sovereignty of Somalia over its entire territory and rejecting unilateral measures that threaten the unity and sovereignty of the State. In addition to the situation in Somalia, the Asmara Summit also addressed the crisis in Sudan and its regional implications, security and cooperation between the countries bordering the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the establishment of coordination mechanisms between the three countries. All these issues are of crucial importance for the three states, but above all for Egypt, which must, on the one hand, defend navigation to and from the Suez Canal, an important source of income for its treasury, and, on the other, prevent Ethiopia from gaining control over the flow of the Nile water through the famous dam on the Blue Nile (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam). For this reason, Egypt is also active in the Sudanese civil war, where it supports the Sudanese armed forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the "Rapid Support Forces" (RSF) of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti). The latter accused the Egyptian Air Force of bombing some of their units near the capital Khartoum. These accusations were denied by Cairo. But various powers are directly and indirectly involved in the Sudanese civil war (see Fides, 15/4/2024). The Horn of Africa risks being affected by local conflicts (between Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia), regional conflicts (war in Sudan, rivalry between Ethiopia and Egypt) and tensions in the Middle East (involvement of the Yemeni Houthis in the war against Israel). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 21/10/2024)

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