CAIRO, Dec 23 – Egypt will send troops to join the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced on Monday. The move comes as Somalia strengthens ties with Egypt amid tensions with Ethiopia over the status of Somaliland.
“Egypt has decided to participate in the mission based on the Somali government’s request and the approval of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council,” Abdelatty said during a press conference in Cairo, held alongside Somalia’s foreign minister.
The African Union Stabilisation and Support Mission (AUSSOM) will replace an anti-terror mission set to conclude this year. The mission aims to support Somalia as it faces political and security challenges.
Tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia heightened earlier this year when Ethiopia proposed building a port in Somaliland, a self-declared independent region. The dispute drew in regional powers and raised fears of further destabilization in the Horn of Africa. Talks mediated by Turkey led to an agreement between Somalia and Ethiopia to collaborate on resolving the issue.
Abdelatty reaffirmed Egypt’s position on Somali sovereignty. “We discussed Egypt’s support for Somalia asserting its authority over all its national territory and rejecting unilateral actions that undermine its unity and security,” he said.
Somalia’s closer alignment with Egypt follows Cairo’s criticism of Ethiopia’s Somaliland port deal and its longstanding opposition to Addis Ababa’s construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile. Under a recently signed security pact, Egypt has supplied Somalia with weapons and ammunition, including anti-aircraft systems and artillery.
