Addis Ababa, (SONNA) – In a press conference upon his departure from Addis Ababa, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud strongly condemned the Ethiopian government under PM Abiy Ahmed for blatantly infringing on Somalia’s sovereignty and aggressively seeking to annex its territory.
The President highlighted an incident where the convoy of H.E. President Hassan Sheikh and H.E. President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, along with their accompanying delegations, faced forceful attempts by Ethiopian Government security personnel to prevent their entry into the summit proceedings.
“This morning as I was coming to attend the summit, the Ethiopian security blocked my way, they refused me to come out of the hotel, and go on with my cars and entourage to come to this meeting. It took me a long time to stay there and at the end, I came with another President’s car and entourage.
And we came to the African Union’s headquarters again two presidents of us, the President of the Republic of Djibouti and Myself again we were blocked from entering the AU headquarters, and a soldier with a gun stood in front of us and denied access to this facility,” President Hassan said.
He also said that he heard that other presidents were also treated the same and experienced similar bad treatment.
“Somalia as a founding member of the African Union we do not deserve that treatment from a country that hosts the African Union,” he added.
The regrettable incident establishes a dangerous precedent for future summits and reflects poorly on Ethiopia’s reliability as a host and its commitment to upholding the values of the African Union.
