(Garowe Online) – Government sources informed GO that Somali Federal Government (SFG) Minister of the Presidential Palace Farah Abdiqadir has been in Ethiopia trying to mend deteriorating ties, Garowe Online reports.
According to SFG sources, Minister Farah who has been in Ethiopia for the past three days has been meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to give an unidentified letter to the Ethiopian Prime Minister from the SFG President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The sources tell GO that the two leaders relationship turned sour after President Hassan allegedly supported Egypt against Ethiopia who begun construction of a controversial dam along the Blue Nile.
The sources say that President Hassan backed Egypt against the building of the dam after an official visit by the Egyptian Ministry of Defence on June 4th. The delegation pledged to rebuild the dilapidated headquarters of the Ministry of Defence. Also the delegation began talks on how to rebuild the Somalia Armed Forces.
Ethiopia has begun construction of the dam on the Blue Nile which will cut into the lion-share 55.5 billion cubic metres that Egypt receives from the Nile River. Ethiopia and five east African countries in the Nile Basin signed the Entebbe Treaty in 2010 that states that fair and reasonable use of the Nile River is principle. Uganda is one of the other East African countries that signed the treaty.
The sources say that by sending Minister Farah – a trusted aide – President Hassan is attempting to mend ties with Ethiopia who is very active in Somali affairs. Ethiopia has an undisclosed amount of troops fighting Al Shabaab in southern and south central Somalia.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has reportedly spent millions of dollars in campaigning countries to not support Ethiopia’s dam construction.
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Source: Garowe Online – June 13, 2013, titled “Somalia: President Hassan sends confidant to mend ties with Ethiopia”.
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