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A separate statement signed by representatives of Somalia, Egypt, and Eritrea after the summit affirmed Somalia’s sovereign right to determine the composition, tasks, and deployment schedule of AUSSOM troops.
Somalia says Egypt has offered to deploy peacekeeping troops to the Horn of Africa country as part of a security partnership taking shape as the mandate of a long-standing African Union peacekeeping force ends.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attended a summit in the Eritrean capital, Asmara recently. At the meeting, the Egyptian President pledged strong regional security cooperation with the leaders of Somalia and Eritrea.
Somalia welcomed Egypt’s offer to deploy troops to Somalia as part of a stabilization force when the current African Union force is dissolved in December. Somalia further welcomed the decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council to launch the African Union Stabilization Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), under whose mandate the Egyptians or others would be deployed.
A separate statement signed by representatives of Somalia, Egypt, and Eritrea after the summit affirmed Somalia’s sovereign right to determine the composition, tasks, and deployment schedule of AUSSOM troops.
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Since 2007, the Somali federal government has been supported by an African Union peacekeeping mission in its fight against the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda and is responsible for deadly attacks in the country. The Asmara summit follows a period of tensions in the region, due to disputes between Ethiopia and other countries.
The first dispute – between Ethiopia and Egypt – concerns Ethiopia’s construction of a USD 4 billion dam on the Blue Nile, a key tributary of the Nile. Egypt fears the dam will have a devastating impact on water supplies and irrigation downstream to Egypt unless Ethiopia accommodates its needs. Ethiopia plans to use the dam to generate badly needed electricity. The second dispute, between Ethiopia and Somalia, concerns the breakaway region of Somaliland.
