Somalia’s presidency announced on Thursday that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Mogadishu to hold discussions with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud following a thaw in relations between the two nations.
The relationship between Somalia and Ethiopia soured in January 2024 when Ethiopia announced plans to lease a stretch of coastline in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region.
Ethiopia intended to build a naval base and commercial port in exchange for potential recognition of Somaliland’s independence.
Somalia accused Ethiopia of undermining its territorial integrity, threatened to expel its peacekeepers, and strengthened ties with Ethiopia’s adversaries, Egypt and Eritrea.
Mogadishu airport was hit by at least one mortar shell shortly before Abiy’s plane landed on Thursday, in spite of all roads around the high-security complex being closed, according to four residents and media reports.
The two countries agreed to resolve the dispute through talks mediated by Ankara in December, pledging to establish commercial arrangements to provide landlocked Ethiopia with “reliable, secure, and sustainable access to and from the sea.
“They also committed to beginning technical negotiations by the end of February.”
Following their meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation for mutual benefit, as stated in a joint statement from their governments.
Photographs shared by the presidency showed the two leaders smiling and shaking hands on the airport tarmac, surrounded by people waving flags of both countries.
Abiy’s visit follows President Mohamud’s visit to Addis Ababa a month earlier. Somalia has been grappling with a prolonged insurgency by Islamist al-Shabaab militants fighting to overthrow the central government.