Egypt-Eritrea-Somalia tripartite alliance sealed at summit? --[Reported by Umva mag]

In a significantly telling overture, the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia have been meeting in Asmara for three-way talks to galvanise their new-found alliance.

The talks came amid escalating tension in the region since neighbouring Ethiopia signed a controversial deal with breakaway Somaliland back in January which would allow the former access to a Red Sea port.

Ethiopia whose relations with the three countries had soured in recent years will view this tripartite summit with some concern.

The authorities in Addis Ababa who had voiced concern over the steady military buildup by Egypt in the Horn of Africa has not reacted publicy to this latest move by the thre leaders.

Egypt, already at longstanding odds with Ethiopia over the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river has been amassing its troops and shiping heavy military gears to Somalia since last month.

This was accoring to a military cooperation between Cairo and Mogadishu whose army is being slowly rebuilt after decades of a devastating civil war and a protracted insurgency by Islamist militants.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia met in Asmara, according to a post by Mohamud’s office on X accompanied by pictures of the three leaders.

Eritrea’s information ministry had said in an earlier post that the summit would focus on “bolstering ties between the three countries as well as matters of regional security and stability”.

The maritime deal with Somaliland had infuriated the authorities in Mogadishu and highlighted regional rivalries as relations soured between Ethiopia and its immediate neighbours as well as Egypt with whom relations had been strained since the mega dam project began in 2011.

Mohamud, who has already made several official trips to Eritrea to secure Afwerki’s backing in his country’s feud with Ethiopia, held separate talks with the Eritrean leader shortly after his arrival late Wednesday, the ministry said.

They discussed the need to bolster cooperation “in the heavy tasks of the maintenance of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, and unity of Somalia; which remains a prerequisite for its development against the backdrop of enormous challenges in the past two decades”, it added.

Sisi — whose government has not disguised its backing of Somalia in its standoff with Ethiopia — flew in on Thursday and was also due to hold face-to-face talks with Afwerki before the three-way summit.

MG/as/APA

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