Somalia Rejects Mediation Efforts with Ethiopia Over Port Deal 

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attends the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 42nd Extraordinary Session, at the State House in Entebbe, Uganda January 18, 2024. (Reuters)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attends the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 42nd Extraordinary Session, at the State House in Entebbe, Uganda January 18, 2024. (Reuters)
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Somalia Rejects Mediation Efforts with Ethiopia Over Port Deal 

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attends the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 42nd Extraordinary Session, at the State House in Entebbe, Uganda January 18, 2024. (Reuters)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attends the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 42nd Extraordinary Session, at the State House in Entebbe, Uganda January 18, 2024. (Reuters)

Somalia rejected any discussions with Ethiopia about Addis Ababa's agreement to lease a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland, as regional heads of state gathered on Thursday to try to defuse a growing diplomatic crisis.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Jan. 1, Ethiopia would consider recognizing Somaliland's independence in return for gaining access to the Red Sea, partly through the port lease.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not won recognition from any country and the port lease deal, which would be a boon to landlocked Ethiopia, has enraged Somalia.

An escalating war of words, including threats by Somalia to go to war to prevent the deal from going through, led the African Union to call on Wednesday for restraint and "meaningful dialogue".

"There is no space for mediation unless Ethiopia retracts its illegal MOU and reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia," Somalia's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

Under the deal, which still has to be finalized, Ethiopia would lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastland around the port of Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, for 50 years for military and commercial purposes.

Ethiopia's current main port for maritime exports is in the neighboring country of Djibouti.

Heads of state from a regional group, the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), met in Entebbe, Uganda, on Thursday to seek a peaceful solution.

Those in attendance included the presidents of Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan as well as the leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, who attended as an observer along with the European Union, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, said the MOU threatened to further undermine regional security and had been weaponized by Al Shabaab militants.

"We have already seen troubling indications that al-Shabaab is using the MOU to generate new recruits," he told delegates in Uganda, according to a copy of the remarks seen by Reuters.

Ethiopia did not send a delegation, saying it was informed too late about the summit.

At a news conference on Thursday, Ambassador Meles Alem, Ethiopia's foreign affairs spokesperson, rejected a statement by the Arab League on Wednesday that called the MOU "a clear violation of international law".



49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
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49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)

 

At least 49 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to health officials, as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire.
An airstrike in a neighborhood in western Gaza City early Saturday morning, flattened a three-story house, killing 10 people, according to a cameraman cooperating with The Associated Press. The number was confirmed by Gaza’s Health Ministry, along with three more people who were killed in the Shati refugee camp along the city's shoreline.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes.
The attacks come as Hamas said on Saturday that it sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and get the stalled ceasefire back on track.
Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed, or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Donald Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally.
Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January.
Hamas said Saturday that the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and reconstruction.
Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said.
Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade on Gaza even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling.
On Friday, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.
About 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the UN The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 of the Hamas group, without providing evidence.
The war began when the Hamas-led group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.