By Star Staff Writer
Ethiopia is preparing to invade Somalia and its military officers are already inside the country planning for the offensive, said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed on Saturday, vowing that his country will defend itself and that Ethiopia, if it goes ahead with its aggression, will regret as it did in the past.
The two countries fought several wars, most notably the Ogaden war in 1977. In 2006, Ethiopia invaded Somalia and occupied the capital, Mogadishu, for two years before Somalis drove its forces out by force.
“As of now, [as] I am speaking to you, there are senior military officers in Somali land preparing the ground for Ethiopia to go in,” President Hassan told reporters in Addis Ababa, where he attended the African Union summit. “That is what’s going on practically and in action terms inside Somalia.”
The shocking disclosure is likely to amp up the tension between the two erstwhile enemies, which have been at loggerheads since Jan. 1, when Addis Ababa signed a memorandum of understanding with a regional administration in Somalia to take up a 50-year lease on a 20-kilometer stretch of coastland on the Red Sea to set up a naval base. Under the deal, whose full details were not publicly released, Ethiopia has promised to recognize the northwestern region as an independent country and offer a share of the Ethiopian Airlines.
Angered by the move, the Somali government recalled its ambassador to Addis Ababa and termed the deal “illegal” and an attack on the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
President Hassan has vowed not to talk with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, unless Ethiopia walks back the MOU and apologizes to Somalia for violating its unity.
Ethiopia, however, has insisted that it broke no laws, saying that the deal with the Somali region “has created an opportunity to cure the decades-old stress and anxiety of Ethiopians.”
“Ethiopia may go and send [in] its forces to Somalia as it did in the past, but the end has always been very clear,” President Hassan told reporters on Saturday. “Whenever Ethiopia sends its forces forcefully and illegally to Somalia we know the consequences.”
He added: “I don’t think that Ethiopia was happy with those past consequences and will not be happy [this time around]. This is our country. Even if it takes centuries we will not concede or we will not accept what Ethiopia is doing.”
In his speech to the AU assembly, President Hassan appealed to the continental body to have “a clear” position on the MOU, which, he said, if it’s left unresolved, will “open a Pandora’s box” of instability in the continent.
The AU’s Constitutive Act calls for “respect of borders existing on achievement of independence” in a bid to preserve the unity of African countries, which are — unlike Somalia — a hodgepodge of ethnic groups cobbled together by European colonialists. Ethiopia itself is made up of more than 80 tribes who’re at each other’s throats.
Somalia’s ministry of foreign affairs called on the African Union to “reevaluate the location of its headquarters” in Addis Ababa if Ethiopia “fails to uphold” the honor, privilege and responsibility of hosting the union’s base in its capital.
“Our country is [being] threatened by [potential] annexation” by Ethiopia, the president told African Union summit.
He said the Ethiopian deal with the Somali region is not only a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, but also a violation of the African Union principle.
“The AU cannot survive, nor will there be peace and stability to achieve the positive development and objectives of the agenda 2063 it aspires to if the African charter regarding the principle of sovereignty and unity and territorial integrity among African States is not respected and strictly adhered [to],” President Hassan said.
He said Ethiopia kicked up the tension when “Somalia is succeeding and Somalia is coming back to its rightful position and defeating terrorists that are a threat to the region, to the continent and to the globe at large.”
“We don’t want to refocus our attention on unnecessary conflict with our neighbor,” he said, adding that “it’s the full responsibility of the African Union” to have a clear stand on the MOU.
President Hassan said al Shabab, taking advantage of the anti-Ethiopian sentiment in the country, has recruited about 6000 to 8000 people in the last month alone.
Any conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia could likely roil the region, already wracked by the war in Sudan and tensions among its countries. It could also exacerbate internal armed rebellions in Ethiopia, deal a blow to the ongoing war against al Shabab in Somalia and suck in other countries.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi last month vowed to defend Somalia if attacked by another country.
“We won’t allow anyone to threaten Somalia. We won’t allow anyone to touch Somalia. And I am saying that very clearly,” said President el-Sissi said at a joint press conference with President Hassan in Cairo on Jan 21.
He said, “oo one will agree” to any attempt to “seize control of a land” like Ethiopia’s deal with the northwestern Somali region.
“No one should test Egypt and try to threaten its sisters, especially if its sisters request us to be with them,” el-Sissi said.
On Feb. 8, Somalia and Turkey also signed a defense agreement that focuses on issues, such as joint military exercises and intelligence sharing.
After his speech, President Hassan immediately flew back to the country, skipping a gala dinner for the AU leaders. Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama Salah was assigned the responsibility of representing Somalia in the remaining sessions of the summit that was scheduled to be concluded on Sunday.
For his part, Salah demanded that the AU condemn Ethiopia’s “act of aggression [MOU] that’s at odds with and contrary to the very basic cardinal principles of the union.”
During his press conference on Saturday, President Hassan accused Ethiopian security forces of trying to block him from attending the morning session of the AU’s heads of state in Addis Ababa.
“The Ethiopian security has blocked my way. They refused me [a chance] to come out of the hotel and go with my car and entourage. … It took me a long time,” President Hassan said.
He said he later came to the AU headquarters by the car of Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh
“And when we came to the African Union headquarters, again, the two presidents of us, the president of the Republic of Djibouti and myself, again, we were blocked from entering the African Union headquarters,” President Hassan said. “Soldiers with guns stood in front of us and denied [us] an access to this facility.”
As a founding member of the African Union, the president said, Somalia doesn’t “deserve this treatment from the country that hosts the African Union.”
Billene Seyoum, Prime Minister Abiy’s spokeswoman, told the AFP that President Hassan was blocked after his security detail tried to enter the African Union Commission premises with weapons.”
In an interview with Somali National TV, acting Foreign Minister Ali Mohamed Omar “Bal’ad,” said, “unfortunately, roads were not closed for the [Djibouti and Somali] presidents and they endured huge traffic and congestion on their way.”
He said the Ethiopian action was done “on purpose” to bar the president from addressing the assembly and sharing Somalia’s view on the MOU.
Somalia’s foreign ministry condemned the action of the Ethiopian security personnel, calling it “provocative” and “unwarranted.” It accused Addis Ababa of breaching “all diplomatic and international protocols.”
The ministry called on the AU to “urgently conduct a credible and independent investigation into this outrageous conduct in line with the protocols of the union.”
“This behavior adds to the growing list of erratic actions by the Ethiopian Government in recent times,” said the Somali ministry of foreign affairs.
President Hassan has expressed “disappointment” with Ethiopia’s attempt “to justify its illegal action of infringing upon Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity despite our fierce objection and international condemnation.”
“The recent MOU that has been signed by the Ethiopian government with the Somali regional authority of the northern region of Somalia [Somaliland] is illegal in international law,” President Hassan said. “It’s illegal in all the universally accepted standards and charters of the AU and the United Nations.”
The US, the European Union, the AU, and China, among others, have expressed their support for Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but didn’t expressly condemn Ethiopia’s action, a decision that angered the Somali government.
On Feb. 6, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that he didn’t want war with Somalia, asserting that “Ethiopia, being a friend, does not wish any harm to come upon Somalia.” He claimed that “some forces are trying to incite conflict between the two nations” and that “should not happen.”
“Ethiopia has no intention of causing harm to Somalia,” Abiy said.
In his opening remarks welcoming the AU leaders, Abiy didn’t touch on the MOU and instead focused on pan-African issues.
He said that “regional and continental integration is essential to diversify our economies, ensure peaceful coexistence amongst neighbors and work together for our common growth.” Peace and stability are “the necessary foundation[s] for economic and social development,” he said.
Abiy later told the AU summit that he “considers Somalia as a friendly country and His Excellency President Hassan as a good friend.”
“We have zero intention to harm Somalia. We have zero intention to create any problem in our region,” he said.
President Hassan said Prime Minister Abiy’s words have “no significance” as long as “his actions and the actions of Ethiopia” and his words contradict each other.
“The actions of Ethiopia, as of today, is to annex part of Somalia to Ethiopia and to disrespect the African Union submit participant, me,” he said.
Prime Minister Abiy said last year that his country should get access to the sea either through peaceful means or by force. He quoted the words of Ras Alula, a 19th Century Ethiopian general, who said that the Red Sea was Ethiopia’s “natural boundary.”
President Hassan said Ethiopia was “misleading the world by claiming that they need access to the sea.”
“The question is not [about] access to the sea. The question is how Ethiopia wants access to the sea,” he said, adding that Somalia is “ready” to provide Ethiopia a commercial access to the sea, but Ethiopia is “looking for a territory to annex.”
He said landlocked countries “don’t pursue an annexation of part” of their neighbors.
The president said the MOU with the northwestern region of Somalia was an attempt by Addis Ababa to change the country’s border.
“Somalia has categorically objected to that,” the president said.
On Jan. 8, Ethiopia’s army chief, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, met with the northwestern region’s Maj. Gen. Nuh Ismael Tani in Addis Ababa. According to the Ethiopian army, they discussed “issues of military cooperation between the two sides.”
President Hassan accused Ethiopia of “using the nice face of the African continent” to “seek hegemony” in the region.
“We would like to loudly say to our African Union brothers that the behavior of Ethiopia is not an acceptable one that is compatible with the 21st century,” said President Hassan, noting that “nice words will not help Africa, as a continent and as an individual country.”