Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Addis Standard2
Published on 2024-02-19 12:01:24
Recently, the Ethiopian government has been asserting that the allegations made by the government of Somalia concerning the purported hindrance of its president during the 37th African Union (AU) Summit are false and merely an attempt to catch the attention of specific media platforms.
Selamawit Kassa, state minister of the Government Communication Service, highlighted that the accusations are inconsistent with the welcome and treatment Ethiopia provided to its guests during the summit. She stated that Ethiopia welcomed all leaders attending the summit “without discrimination and with utmost respect.” Furthermore, she emphasized that upon their arrival in Ethiopia, the leaders were accommodated without any security impediments and with full accountability.
The statement from the Somali government indicated that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had cut short his AU summit attendance due to what is described as Ethiopian security forces preventing him from accessing the AU headquarters. The statement claimed that “armed Ethiopian security prevented him from leaving his hotel to attend meetings on Saturday.”
In response to these claims, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Ambassador Meles Alem, has refuted statements made by the government of Somalia about alleged attempts by Ethiopian government security to prevent the entry of its delegation into the AU Summit proceedings. Ambassador Meles Alem stated that the government of Ethiopia has a responsibility to ensure the security of heads of government of all countries during their stay in Addis Abeba and deploys enough security personnel for this purpose. He clarified that the deployment of security personnel for guests’ well-being is customary for such high-level diplomatic events, but the president of Somalia acted contrary to protocol. He explained that the security guards of the Somalian delegation, who tried to enter the African Union Headquarters armed with guns, were prevented from doing so, as is policy.
As a fallout from the incident, Somalia has called for an independent AU investigation into the incident, questioning whether Ethiopia should host the body given alleged violations of international diplomatic norms.
The 37th African Union (AU) Summit, held in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia over the past two days, concluded today with a speech from newly elected AU Chairman Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of Mauritania. According to Ghazowani, the summit meetings evaluated progress on the AU’s Agenda 2063 over the first 10 years since its inception and identified priority tasks for the next decade. Education is set to be a focus of the next 10 years of the development plan, with the goal of modernizing Africa’s education systems. Moreover, the AU will also continue efforts to secure a permanent African seat on the United Nations Security Council to increase African representation in global decisions related to security.
Adding to the controversies sparked by the summit was a speech by visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that drew condemnation from Israel. Lula compared the current Israel’s military actions in Gaza to Nazi crimes during the Holocaust, drawing strong reactions from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described Lula’s remarks as “disgraceful and grave.” Israel plans to summon Brazil’s ambassador in Tel Aviv for a formal reprimand.
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