Somaliland Administration President Accused of “Undermining Ethiopian Mediation Efforts”

[Deeq A.]

Bihi: “War will not stop, and we will enter new wars.”

Garowe (PP News Desk) — The Ethiopian diplomats in Somalia have reportedly expressed concerns about inflammatory remarks made yesterday by Muse Bihi Abdi, the President of Somaliland Administration, at Oog, where remnants of Somaliland forces defeated at Goja’ada foxholes one year ago are based. “War will not stop, and we will enter new wars,” Bihi said, sparking renewed conflict in Sool.

Ethiopia has resumed ‘secret’ mediation efforts to prevent renewed territorial conflict between the Somaliland Administration and Puntland State over territories under the federal jurisdiction of the Garowe-based administration.

“The mediation efforts of Ethiopia are based on respecting the political legitimacy  of Puntland State and the Somaliland Administration. Ethiopia trained more than 2,000 special forces for Puntland between 2022 and 2024, and Garowe is where Ethiopian mediators arrived during the Las Anod conflict last year,” said a senior Ethiopian official, who  visited Puntland recently.

Frustration with the delay in the diplomatic recognition that the Somaliland Administration is expecting from Ethiopia is believed to have led to its resorting to saber-rattling. “The maritime Memorandum of Understanding Bihi signed with the Ethiopian Prime Minister has now acquired geopolitical dimensions, with the Somaliland Administration being a bystander in the talks between Somalia and Ethiopia,” an analyst told Puntland Post.

Last year, Abune Mathias, the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, offered to mediate between Puntland State and the Somaliland Administration during the Las Anod conflict. “The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church aims to urge Somali brothers and sisters to stop the bloodshed and resolve differences through negotiation,” a retired priest told a radio station in Addis Ababa.                     

© Puntland Post, 2024

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