Media reports indicate that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declined an invitation to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Beijing.
According to the Somali news outlet "Caasimada," both Mohamud and Abiy Ahmed are currently in Beijing for the China-Africa Summit alongside other African leaders.
The site, citing informed sources, reported that the Presidents of Djibouti, Mauritania, the African Union Chairperson, and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to mediate talks between Hassan Sheikh and Abiy Ahmed, but the Somali president flatly refused.
The sources stated that the Somali federal government has made it clear that no direct talks will take place with Ethiopia "unless Addis Ababa withdraws from the illegal agreement it signed with the Somaliland regional government" on January 1, 2024.
The agreement grants Ethiopia 20 kilometers of the Red Sea coast for establishing a military base, a move that angered Mogadishu, which promptly expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and recalled its own ambassador from Addis Ababa.
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