During an emergency press conference organized on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit, the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, expressed his dissatisfaction with the way he was received in Addis -Abeba by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, whom he attacked unceremoniously.
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With our correspondent in Addis Ababa, Clothilde Hazard
Furious, the president Somali Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud accused Ethiopian security forces of blocking his way at the entrance to the African Union (AU) headquarters.
“ We were blocked from entering the headquarters of the African Union. This is the behavior we saw. Other heads of state were also present and experienced similar behavior. We do not deserve such treatment from a country that hosts the African Union “, he estimated.
Ethiopia responded to these accusations with other accusations, ensuring that the Somali president had wanted to return with his own armed security team. A pass of arms which illustrates the tensions between the two countries since the framework agreement signed by Ethiopia with Somaliland in which Ethiopia undertakes to open a process of recognition of the country, in exchange for access to the sea. For Somalia, this is an attack on its sovereignty.
“ We want Ethiopia to have access to our coastal areas in the same way that the other sixteen landlocked African countries have access to the sea. The memorandum of understanding that Ethiopia signed with this regional authority is nothing short of ‘other than the annexation of part of Somalia to Ethiopia and the modification of the borders of Somalia “, he said. During the summit, the Somali president asked the AU to strongly condemn the signing of this framework agreement.
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