Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is set to arrive in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Thursday for key discussions with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, according to Somalia’s state news agency. This visit follows a recent thaw in the previously strained relations between the two nations.
Relations soured in January 2024 when Ethiopia announced plans to lease a section of coastline in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region. Ethiopia intended to establish a naval base and commercial port in exchange for potential recognition of Somaliland’s independence, a move that Somalia viewed as a direct challenge to its territorial integrity. In response, Somalia threatened to remove Ethiopian peacekeepers and bolstered its ties with Ethiopia’s regional rivals, Egypt and Eritrea.
However, the two countries reached an agreement in December to settle the dispute. They committed to finding commercial solutions that would provide Ethiopia, a landlocked country, with “reliable, secure, and sustainable access to and from the sea.”