Ethiopia Slams Somalia's Threat to Support Rebels Amid Tensions

by: Horn Observer Contributor | 15 September 2024 00:53

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Ethiopia Slams Somalia's Threat to Support Rebels Amid Tensions

GAROWE, Somalia (REPORTING BY KAAB TV) – After Somalia's Foreign Minister announced that his government would seek to reach out to armed rebels in Ethiopia in a bid to support them against Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian government swiftly resp

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Somalia Foreign Minister Ahmed Fiqi (left) and Nebiyu Tedla, the spokesman of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry (right).

GAROWE, Somalia (REPORTING BY KAAB TV) – After Somalia's Foreign Minister announced that his government would seek to reach out to armed rebels in Ethiopia in a bid to support them against Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian government swiftly responded.

On Thursday, Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Fiqi, a former member of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance that eventually led to the rise of Al-Shabaab, warned that if Ethiopia continues with its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Somaliland, Mogadishu might reach out to Ethiopian rebels.

"If Ethiopia continues this MoU, for us to have contact with the rebels in Ethiopia is an option open to Somalia, it’s a door open to us,” Fiqi stated.

The Ethiopian government reacted firmly, calling the remarks ‘comical.’

Nebiyu Tedla, the spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticized the Somali official:

"It’s comical to witness Al-Shabaab agents posing as government officials, who are unable to function effectively outside of Banaadir, babbling hollow nationalism, driven by narrow clan centralization.”

"Such will only undermine years of progress and lead Somalia into the pit.”

This exchange comes amidst ongoing tension between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa over the MOU signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland early this year, with increasingly hostile statements being made in the media.

Meanwhile, several Somali regional states—Southwest, Puntland, and Jubbaland—have opposed Mogadishu’s recent efforts to deploy Egyptian forces in Somalia, a move that is seen as potentially escalating tensions with Ethiopia.

Additionally, local authorities in Gedo, Bakool, and Hiiraan regions have publicly declared they will not accept the removal of Ethiopian forces currently providing security to the local population, despite Mogadishu’s push to remove Ethiopian peacekeepers from the African Union Mission.

(By Kaab TV)