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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has been experiencing strained relations, to say the least, with Ethiopia’s neighboring country. This tension escalated in November 2023 when Abiy Ahmed made a statement asserting Ethiopia’s right to access the Red Sea. The situation deteriorated further after his government signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with Somaliland, the breakaway region Somalia regards as just Northern Somalia, on January 1, 2024.

Somalia viewed the MoU agreement as a “violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In response, it has been mobilizing support from multilateral organizations, such as the Arab League, and state actors like Eritrea and Egypt, among others.

On his first overseas trip since the MoU agreement, which happens to be to Uganda where the Non-Aligned Movement summit  is taking place and where heads of state from various countries convened, he seized the opportunity to clarify his government’s pursuit of access to the sea.

He tweeted : 

“In my remarks today during the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, I reiterated that landlocked countries face insurmountable challenges hindering their ability to fulfill the demands of their people for adequate and sustained livelihoods and to ensure their development.

Ethiopia continues to seek a peaceful, mutually beneficial, and negotiated solution to such a challenge.”

If the MoU agreement with Somaliland takes root, Ethiopia will have access to a twenty-kilometer stretch of coastal land on a fifty-year lease basis. In return, Ethiopia is obligated to transfer a percentage of shares from national assets, such as Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio-Telecom. Recognizing the independence of Somaliland is also a condition that Somaliland expects Ethiopia to fulfill. The political and diplomatic price Ethiopia is already paying for it is significant. Some observers tend to view Ethiopia’s MoU agreement with Somaliland as equivalent to recognizing Somaliland as a sovereign state.

There have been concerns that the situation could escalate into an outright war between Ethiopia and Somalia. State actors and multilateral organizations have been urging the two countries to engage in negotiations, a proposal that Somalia is currently rejecting. The government of Somalia states, “There is no room for mediation unless Ethiopia retracts its illegal MoU and reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.”

PM Abiy returned to Addis Ababa on the same day. Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), the state media, reported that the PM held discussions with Kenyan President William Ruto and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on the sidelines of the summit. He also engaged in discussions with Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank. FBC did not specify the subject matter of the sideline discussions.

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The post Ethiopian PM at Non-Aligned Movement Summit: Landlocked Nations Face Insurmountable Development Challenges appeared first on Borkena Ethiopian News.

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The African Union, European Union, the United Nations, and the United States are urging Ethiopia and Somalia to ease tension. Their representatives attended the IGAD meeting in Kampala, Uganda, this week, where the leaders of Non-Aligned Movement countries were gathering.

Ethiopia, a key player in IGAD, did not participate in the meeting. Somalia has attended it. 

Tension between Ethiopia and Somalia escalated after the former signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the breakaway Somaliland—an entity that has existed as a de facto state for over three years.

Somalia rejects any mediation effort on the matter. In response to the statement from the African Union Political Affairs Peace and Security resolution, released on January 17, Somalia stated, “There is no space for mediation unless Ethiopia retracts its illegal MOU and reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.”

Somalia argues that Ethiopia violated its sovereignty and territorial integrity by signing the MoU with Somaliland. So far, Ethiopia has not officially responded to Somalia, except to reiterate that its pursuit of access to the sea would remain peaceful. However, there were reported attempts on the part of the Ethiopian government to reach out to Somali President, Hassan Sheik, who reportedly declined to answer the phone. Neither Ethiopia nor Somalia confirmed it. 

This week, Somalia re-routed Ethiopian Airlines chartered flight to Somaliland after it denied airspace. Ethiopian Airlines confirmed to BBC Amharic Service that the Somaliland Bound Plane was turned back and landed in Addis Ababa. 

Both Ethiopians in the country and abroad tend to believe that Abiy Ahmed’s uncalculated actions are dragging Ethiopia into conflict with its neighbors. While opposition parties like the Ethiopian Citizens For Social Justice Party—increasingly seen as an ally of the ruling Prosperity Party—support the agreement, Enat Party, another major opposition political party in the country, opposes the agreement. However, the Enat Party has urged Somalia to resolve the matter peacefully.

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On Friday, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) announced that it “will resume its normal operations” in Ethiopia. The decision followed what the bank termed “productive meetings” between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.

The AfDB president visited the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between December 29 and December 31, conducting a series of meetings related to a diplomatic incident that occurred in November 2023. The bank revealed that two expatriate staff members, possessing diplomatic immunity, were “severely assaulted by security agents of the Government of Ethiopia.”

In response, the bank withdrew its international staff from Ethiopia and filed a formal complaint with the Ethiopian government.

Subsequent reports from overseas-based Ethiopian media outlets, relying on sources within the country, indicated that the security forces responsible for assaulting AfDB staff were the Minister for Finance’s bodyguards. The incident allegedly involved funds intended for deposit in the bank. In a news update published on this Friday, the AfDB confirmed that the incident was related to “missing funds,” stating that “the [Ethiopian] Government committed to fully cooperate with the Bank on investigations into the issue of missing funds that were to have been transferred to the Bank.”

The bank had been addressing the matter with the Ethiopian government before the withdrawal of international staff, it was disclosed. 

“While a high-level mission dispatched by the Bank visited Ethiopia in November 2023 for direct engagement and discussions with senior government officials, the matter remained unresolved. Concerns remained about the security, safety, and the protection of the rights, privileges and diplomatic immunities of the Bank’s staff and the respect for the Host Country Agreement with the Bank.  

Consequently, the African Development Bank withdrew all its international staff from Ethiopia,” it said. 

Regarding the decision to resume normal operations in Ethiopia, the bank said, “In light of the productive meetings between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Adesina, and the formal apologies of the government and the firm commitments of the Prime Minister to address the issues related to the incident, the African Development Bank will now resume its normal operations in Ethiopia.”

The bank also stated that all international staff will return to Ethiopia although it did not announce a specific timeline. Additionally, the bank disclosed that it received a “formal apologies from the Prime Minister on behalf of the Government of Ethiopia, with firm assurances of the security and safety of the Bank and its personnel, the respect for the rights, privileges, and diplomatic immunities of staff and the Host Country Agreement of the Government of Ethiopia with the African Development Bank.” 

The government of Ethiopia is yet to conclude its investigation and make its findings public.

“The Bank further received a firm commitment from the Government to investigate and share the formal report of the investigations into the incident with the Bank and to ensure full accountability for all involved,” it stated.

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The followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church are celebrating Epiphany across the country, including in Mekelle, where the open-air religious observance was suspended for three years due to the war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Abiy Ahmed’s government.

Epiphany is a three-day-long event. Starts with Ketera and ends with Kana Zegelila on the third day. In Addis Ababa, replicas of the Ark of the Covenant were taken to Jan Meda in a solemn religious procession. They will be returned to the church in the same solemn procession on Saturday. On the third day, the feast of KanaZegelila is observed.

Government restrictions on not using Ethiopia’s historical flag seem to no longer be in effect, as the Ethiopian Church is using flags with Ethiopian colors. Addis Ababa and Federal Police have announced security arrangements for the celebration. Some roads in the capital are closed for the duration of the celebration.

In Gondar, where the Epiphany celebration used to attract tens of thousands of foreign tourists, it is not as colorful as it used to be due to the security situation in the region.

In Orthodox traditions, Epiphany commemorates the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ at the River Jordan in the hands of John the Baptist.

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Ethiopia’s ruling party, the Prosperity Party, is holding a meeting. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the chairman of the party that he founded, announced it himself.

Details of why the party is meeting are undisclosed. However, Abiy Ahmed mentioned that the party will be discussing key national issues and agenda items for the party.

Details of why the party is meeting are undisclosed. However, Abiy Ahmed mentioned that the party will be discussing key issues.

He wrote on his social media page :

“This afternoon we have began Prosperity Party’s Executive Committee meeting to discuss key national as well as party agenda items.”

The party’s executive committee is said to have about 45 members.

The meeting came amid a rumor that Abiy Ahmed would be reshuffling his cabinet members. Sources from Ethiopia report that the party’s committee, which has a much higher number, is said to continue meeting once the executive committee is completed.

Six years ago, the now-defunct Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) elected Abiy Ahmed from within the party with the aim of undertaking a range of reform measures in response to widespread protests across the country. Broadening democratic space in the country, institutional reforms, good governance, and uniting the country by changing the narrative focused on ethnic differences and grievances were among the key agenda items for the party, which became the Prosperity Party after a year under the leadership of Abiy Ahmed.

As it turns out, ethnic violence in the country worsened under the watch of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The security situation deteriorated to the point that it became risky to travel by car anywhere outside of Addis Ababa. Kidnappings and politically motivated killings became common, especially in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

Worse, Ethiopia found itself in a civil war as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) — a party that dominated power for nearly three decades — resisted the formation of the Prosperity Party under the leadership of Abiy Ahmed on alleged ideological grounds. The war is said to have claimed more than one million lives from the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia. After the end of the war with the TPLF, Abiy Ahmed started a new conflict in the Amhara region, and the region is still under a state of emergency.

Economic hardship, rising inflation, squandering of public resources, and worsening corruption became the hallmarks of Abiy Ahmed’s administration.

Externally, Ethiopia is now facing a possible proxy war with Somalia over the memorandum of understanding it signed with Somaliland. Egypt and the Arab League are beating the drums of war. During a joint press conference with Somalian President Hassan Sheik in Cairo, the Egyptian president stated, “Do not test our patience,” and publicly declared support for Somalia in the event of war. Additionally, the Egyptian president is pushing for war, while many other actors, including the United Nations, are calling for the two countries to resolve their differences through negotiation. Abiy Ahmed’s relationship with Eritrean leadership has also soured. Somalia and Eritrea are forging alliances, including in the military arena. The Egyptian government has extended an invitation to Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki to visit Cairo to discuss the developments in the region and to “coordinate” a response.

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