Somalia

Ethiopia on Friday announced that it will collaborate with a new African Union force against Islamist Al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, which is set to deploy later this month.

As of 1 January 2025, Somalia is officially a member of the United Nations Security Council, having been elected for a non-permanent seat for the 2025-2026 term. … The country was elected along with Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, and Panama.

The Security Council today endorsed the African Union Peace and Security Council’s decision to replace the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) with the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), marking a further step in transitioning national security responsibilities to that country’s own forces.

[…] These decisions were taken following the holistic strategic review of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) engagement in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, with the aim to strengthen the EU’s response to an evolving security context and to enhance its role as a maritime security provider.

Ethiopia and Somalia reached an agreement Wednesday to end diplomatic tensions and to begin talks by February to iron out details over a controversial maritime access deal signed by Ethiopia with the breakaway Somalia region of Somaliland.

[…] The mission will end on December 31, 2024, and it will be replaced by a new African Union Stabilization and Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).  United Nations Security Council approval will have to be given this month to meet the changeover deadline. Yet the new force is unlikely to significantly degrade the long-term threat al-Shabaab poses. al-Shabaab is stronger than generally perceived and may be in a position to achieve significant large-scale success.

The opposition leader of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi [“Irro”], has won the territory’s presidential election. … During campaigning, Irro said his party would review a controversial deal to lease landlocked Ethiopia a 20km (12-mile) section of its coastline for 50 years to set up a naval base - an agreement that has caused a diplomatic feud in the region.

A senior Somali official insisted Saturday that Ethiopia will not participate in a new African Union peacekeeping mission starting in January. The two nations remain deadlocked over a Memorandum of Understanding that Ethiopia signed with the breakaway region, Somaliland, earlier this year.

Underlining the importance of consolidating peace and security gains in Somalia, the Security Council today decided that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) shall be called the United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia and that the latter Mission shall begin formal transition of its functions from 1 November.

Somalia has declared an Ethiopian diplomat working in Mogadishu a persona non grata. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the diplomat of engaging in "activities incompatible with his diplomatic role."