Eritrea, Egypt and Somalia strengthen ‘axis against Ethiopia’

The leaders of Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea – countries with tense relations with Ethiopia – met in the Eritrean capital Asmara.

An Eritrean statement concluding the summit referred to “respect for the sovereignty… and territorial integrity of the countries of the region”.

This could be seen as an explicit reference to landlocked Ethiopia’s port access ambitions, but the country is not specifically mentioned.

Recent diplomatic spats have pushed Somalia into closer ties with Egypt and Eritrea, both of which have long-standing disputes with Ethiopia.

There have been concerns that the growing tensions could lead to some type of conflict.

“This is an axis of resistance [Ethiopian capital] Addis Ababa,” Hassan Khannenje, director of the Horn Institute for International Strategic Studies, told the BBC’s Africa Focus programme.

“I think it’s an attempt to rally hate to increase pressure on Addis Ababa.”

But Somali Information Minister Daud Aweis denied this and said that the meeting was only aimed at cooperation between the three countries.

“We are not determined to instigate anything against Addis Ababa,” he told Focus on Africa.

“Addis Ababa is our neighbor, we have cooperated with each other for a long time, although later their leadership introduced elements of destabilization in the region. But we still support peace and we didn’t think such a meeting would happen.” in Asmara has anything to do with Ethiopia.”

A photo released by Eritrea after the meeting showed President Isaias Afwerki clasping hands with his counterparts from Egypt, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

A statement said the three men had “agreed… to strengthen Somali state institutions to confront various internal and external challenges, and to enable the Somali National Federal Army confront terrorism in all its forms”.

This is Sisi’s first visit to Asmara, while the Somali president has visited three times this year.

Ethiopia has for years been a staunch supporter of the government in Mogadishu in its fight against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group.

But Somalia is angry that Ethiopia signed a preliminary agreement earlier this year with the self-declared republic of Somaliland to lease part of its coastline. Somalia considers Somaliland to be part of its territory.

Meanwhile, Addis Ababa and Cairo have been at odds for more than a decade over Ethiopia’s construction of a giant hydroelectric dam on the Nile River. Egypt sees this as a possible threat to the water flowing down the river on which it depends.

Last month, An Egyptian ship has delivered a significant shipment of military equipment to Somalia. This comes after two Egyptian military planes landed in the Somali capital with weapons and ammunition in August.

In 2018, there was hope that the fractious relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea, following a bloody border war two decades earlier, was over.

At that time, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a “declaration of peace and friendship” with Eritrea.

This agreement earned him the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

But relations between the Horn of Africa neighbors deteriorated after the end of a two-year civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which borders Eritrea.

Asmara had been an ally of the Ethiopian government in that conflict but appeared indifferent to the November 2022 agreement to end the fighting.

Relations were further aggravated by Abiy’s announcement last year that his country wanted to secure access to a Red Sea port.