Eritrea, Somalia resume diplomatic ties
News & Trends •
ethiopia backed a weak interim government in mogadishu while eritrea was accused of backing the islamic militants fighting to overthrow it a charge it denied1 the presidents of somalia and eritrea on monday signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties after over a decade of animosity in the latest lightning rapprochement between horn of africa rivals1 the declaration came just three weeks after ethiopia and eritrea declared an end to two decades of conflict rapidly restoring diplomatic ties and flights between their capitals1 the history of the three nations and their fallouts have been intertwined1 somalia and eritrea were once close. under somali dictator siad barre the military regime in mogadishu backed eritreas long fight for independence from ethiopia which was attained in 19931 in 1998 ethiopia and eritrea began a bloody two-year war over their shared border which left 80000 dead before settling into a bitter cold war1 after the fall of barre in 1991 somalia fell into chaos1 by around 2006 it became the site of what observers called a proxy war between eritrea and ethiopia1 the two countries will establish diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors read a joint declaration on brotherly relations signed in asmara by eritrean president isaias afwerki and mohamed1 the united nations security council in 2009 imposed an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on eritrea for its alleged support of the al-qaeda linked al-shabaab militants which continue to launch regular deadly attacks despite losing territory in recent years1 the declaration placed special emphasis on its support for the somali government1 eritrea strongly supports the political independence sovereignty and territorial integrity of somalia as well as the efforts of the people and government of somalia to restore the countrys rightful stature and achieve the lofty aspirations of its people it said.the document posted on eritreas information ministry website also said the two nations will endeavor to forge intimate political economic social cultural as well as defense and security cooperation1 they will in addition work in unison to foster regional peace stability and economic integration1 at a state banquet on sunday afwerki bemoaned the gloomy post-cold war history of the horn of africa1 he said the region had been destroyed by ethnic and clan cleavages and external pillage and internal thievery in the speech which also lashed out at the micromanagement of anarchy by the united nations and ngos1 under these bleak realities interventionist and expansionist regional agendas in the name of religion cultural intoxication under various extremist ideologies terrorism piracy human trafficking as well as trade in weapons and narcotics became the new normal he said according to a speech posted on the information ministrys website1