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8 October 2024
The Ethiopian government has denied the accusation of the Somali government that it is importing weapons to Somalia.
The Ethiopian military commander, Burhanu Jula, has denied the allegations from the Somali foreign ministry that the Ethiopian government has illegally imported weapons into Somalia.
Burhanu said that there were no illegal weapons that they brought to Somalia.
But he warned that if the situation continues like this, they will have to deploy weapons.
“We did not send weapons, even if we do, we are not ashamed of it. We will not send weapons to Somalia. Instead, Hassan Sheikh got weapons. If the situation continues like this, we will have to send weapons,” said Burhanu.
The commander’s statement follows a recent statement by Somalia’s foreign minister, Ahmed Macallin Fiqi, that Ethiopia is sending weapons to regions of Somalia without permission, and he suggested that Somalia ‘supports the Ethiopian rebels’.
Ethiopia’s military commander, Burhanu Jula, stressed that if the angry words are not stopped, they will take more action, but he did not say what kind of action he warned against.
“If the angry words of intervention and incitement of civil war continue as a weapon, we will do other things,” he added.
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Ethiopia’s military commander, Burhanu Jula, noted that they do not want another problem to happen in Somalia at this time and said that it has been in trouble for 30 years.
“We don’t want the Somali people to suffer because they have been suffering with this man for the past 30 years,” he said.
Mr. Burhanu pointed out that the Somali people are friends with the Ethiopian military and they do not want their problems, according to him.
“The people are our friends and they are with our military in the regions which are good. We still want a peaceful Somalia. We support peacekeeping,” he added.
Ethiopia’s military commander, Burhanu Jula, on the other hand, spoke about Egypt’s support for Somalia and said that it is causing problems in the region.
“If they want to arm Hassan Sheikh and start a war, Hassan Sheikh must be able to fight,” General Burhanu said.
The Somali government has said that Egypt will be a part of the ATMIS replacement mission in Somalia.
The tension between the two countries of Somalia and Ethiopia escalated in January after Ethiopia signed an agreement on maritime territory with the self-proclaimed independent republic of Somaliland.
Mogadishu described the agreement as illegal and threatened to expel the thousands of Ethiopian troops who are in the country and are helping in the fight against Al-Shabaab.
Ethiopia has troops from the African Union (ATMIS) in Somalia to maintain peace in Somalia.
Turkey has so far hosted two rounds of meetings between Somalia and Ethiopia to end the conflict between the two sides.
The third round of talks, which was originally scheduled to take place in Ankara last month, was canceled and no details were given on the postponement of the meeting.
Last month, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara would hold separate talks with the parties before hosting new negotiations.
