By The Star Staff Writer
MOGADISHU – Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo began a three-day visit to Eritrea to restore ties with the Red sea nation that in the past Mogadishu accused of supporting the Qaida-linked militants of al Shabab that is trying to topple it.
The historic visit “would pave the way for Somalia’s full diplomatic presence in Asmara” and strengthen “economic cooperation” between Mogadishu and Asmara, which will “equally have a diplomatic mission” in the Somali capital, said the office of President Farmajo in a tweet on Saturday.
The visit comes just weeks after Ethiopia and Eritrea reconciled following two decades of hostility and bloody wars that in 1998-2000 killed around 80, 000 people from both sides.
Ethiopia has last month announced its intention to cede Badame town, which was at the center of the conflict between the two neighboring nations, to Eritrea that claimed the town’s ownership. A UN court awarded Badame to Eritrea, a decision Addis Ababa’s previous administrations declined to abide by.
“Somalia is ready to write a new chapter of its relationship with Eritrea,” said Abdinur Mohamed, President Farmajo’s Director of communications, in a tweet on Saturday. “Regional cooperation is key to progress for the Horn of Africa” region.
Farmajo’s visit is particularly key to Eritrea’s efforts to get a UN arms embargo, imposed on Asmara in 2009 because of its involvement in Somalia, lifted.
In a recent visit to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, hinted that the sanctions could be “obsolete” in light of the improving relationship between Asmara and Addis Ababa.
The UN’s monitoring team on Somalia and Eritrea said last year that it didn’t find any conclusive evidence that Eritrea had provided support to the Qaida-linked militants of al Shabab for its fourth consecutive mandate. the role of women in the struggle for freedom an
In his speech during the gala dinner he hosted for the visiting Somalia leader on Saturday night, President Afwerki referred to Somalia’s role in the Eritrean struggle for freedom, saying that the bond of “solidarity of our two peoples was reinforced through various phases and forms of resistance to domination.”
He said the “intertwined” and “historical ties between the peoples of Eritrea and Somalia” existed well before “the advent of Western colonialism in the region.”
“In the Cold war period that ensued after decolonization, the solid ties between our two peoples reached its zenith to become the closest special relationship in the Horn of Africa,” Afwerki said. “We are proud of this history. The respect of the people of Eritrea to the brotherly peoples of Somalia is indeed anchored on this profound historical appreciation.”
Somalia was the scene of a regional proxy war between Ethiopia and Eritrea for years, with the UN saying at one time that about 6000 to 8000 Ethiopians and 2000 fully equipped Eritrean troops were in the country to support opposing sides in Somalia’s conflict.
In 2006, the Ethiopian government violated a UN arms embargo on Somalia and invaded the Horn of Africa nation under the pretext of propping up a weak, internationally-backed Somali government that was being threatened by the forces of united Islamic courts that seized power in June 2006.
The Islamists, who were later ousted from power by US-backed Ethiopian forces, restored peace to Mogadishu for the first time in a decade and a half after routing out predatory, US-financed warlords who divided the country into fiefdoms following the collapse of the nation’s central government in 1991.
Eritrea was the only country that openly supported Somalis’ struggle against the Ethiopian forces occupying their country. Asmara’s bold decision has angered many countries, including the United States, which provided Ethiopian forces in Somalia with military and intelligence support.
The Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, which advocated for the removal of Ethiopians from Somalia, was formed in 2007 in Asmara, where most of the anti-Ethiopia Somalis sought refuge.
Although Asmara’s policy appeared to have largely been dictated by its desire to get back at the Ethiopian regime led by late dictator Meles Zenawi, yet Eritrea’s financial and military support for anti-Ethiopian Somali groups were an attempt to return the favor to Somalis who stood shoulder to shoulder with Eritreans during their guerrilla warfare to split off from Ethiopia, of which they were part before their independence in 1993.
The ties between Somalia and Eritrea soured in the early 2000s after Somali leaders disregarded their country’s interests and became putty in Zenawi’s hands.
In 2007, Eritrea suspended its membership of the Intergovernmental Agency for Development, a regional bloc also known as IGAD, to protest Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia.
Two years later, in 2009, the UN imposed an arms embargo on Asmara as well as travel ban and asset freeze on its political and military leaders for providing support to “armed groups undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia” and for refusing to withdraw its forces after clashes with Djibouti in June 2008.
Eritrea accused Ethiopia and the United States of being behind the UN measures. And US cables unveiled by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks showed that Washington and Addis Ababa had in fact coordinated before the imposition of the sanctions to punish Asmara for its alleged role in Somalia.
President Farmajo’s plane touched down at the Asmara International Airport at midday and was received by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans lined Asmara’s streets to welcome President Farmajo and his delegation, said Eritrea’s information ministry. It also said that Eritrea and Somalia will discuss “development of bilateral relations between the two countries and regional issues of interest to both countries.”
Farmajo is also expected to visit “various developmental sites” during his stay, said the ministry on its website.
Somalia’s Information Minister Dahir Gelle said, according to the Eritrean information ministry, that President Farmajo’s visit to Eritrea will “have significant contribution in heralding a new era of relation between Eritrea and Somalia.”