Somalia's minister of foreign affairs has said Somalia will consider establishing contacts with and support rebels fighting in Ethiopia if the Ethiopian government attempts to implement the deal it signed with Somaliland.

Ahmed Moalim Fiqi was answering a question from local Universal TV on September 12.

"The option to have contacts with armed rebels in Ethiopia or rebels that are fighting against the Ethiopia regime - if it continues this, to have contact with them is an option open to Somalia, it's a door open to us," he said.

Fiqi insisted the situation has not yet reached that stage.

"We have not reached that stage, there is a hope there will be a solution. But it is a path open to us ... it's the correct thing to go there, to take that path to meet them, to support them, to stand by them (the rebels). But that will come when they continue their hostility, and attempt to implement the so-called agreement," he said.

Fiqi was asked if the Somali government has a plan to contact the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which was involved in two years of deadly war against Ethiopia's federal government until the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in November 2022.

"We discussed that, but at this time the collapse of Ethiopia is not in the interest of Somalia and the Horn of Africa region. But if they continue to [support] those opposing Somalia and with the secessionist groups [that] they have signed [an] agreement with, it's an option for us," he responded.

Ethiopia's deputy permanent representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Nebiyu Tedla, criticized the comments from Somalia's minster of foreign affairs.

"It's comical to witness al-Shabab agents posing as government officials, who are unable to function effectively outside of Banaadir (the Mogadishu area) babbling hallow nationalism, driven by narrow clan centralization," Nebiyu posted on X.

"Such will only undermine years of progress and lead Somalia into the pit," added Nebiyu, who formerly served as spokesperson for Ethiopia's ministry of foreign affairs.

Relations between the two countries have been warming up during the last three decades as Ethiopia hosted reconciliation conferences and sent troops to help successive Somali governments. But relations turned sour when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the president of the self-declared, breakaway republic of Somaliland on January 1, 2024.

According to Somaliland officials, under the MOU Ethiopia will be the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent nation in return for the leasing of 20 kilometers (12 miles) of seashore to be used as a naval base by Ethiopia for 50 years. Somalia sees the deal as infringement to its sovereignty.

On Friday, U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer, speaking in Addis Ababa, urged both countries to find ways to work together.

"Let me state unequivocally the United States supports Somalia's territorial sovereignty, integrity and unity, and we have made that very clear," he said.

"We want to see peaceful and good relations between all countries in the region and certainly between Ethiopia and Somalia. And we urge both to find ways to move forward and look how they can continue to work together. We are well aware of the ENDF's [Ethiopian National Defense Forces] and Ethiopia's sacrifice in Somalia in the fight against al-Shabab. That is what we should be focusing on, frankly from the U.S. perspective, how we can support Somalia in its fight against al-Shabab."

Hammer said fighting al-Shabab requires good relations between Somalia and Ethiopia.

"There is no reason that these two countries should have difficulties that can't be resolved again through conversations. But again, both countries need to accept the basic principes outlined frankly by the AU charter, which is affirmation and recognition in understanding of each other's territorial sovereignty, integrity and unity," Hammer told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.

Somalia and Ethiopia fought two wars and supported each other's rebels in the 1970s and 80s.

In February 1988, the president of Somalia, Mohamed Siad Barre, and Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam, reached an agreement in Djibouti mediated by late Djibouti President Hassan Guled Aptidon. They agreed to cease hostilities and committed to cease supporting each other's rebels.

This story originated in VOA's Horn of Africa Service.

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