Mekelle፡ 13 August 2024 (Tigray Herald)
Update – analysis
Somalia/Egypt/Troops:
By Rashid Abdi
Mogadishu is back-peddling on Egyptian troop deployment after major split emerges in country with majority of federal states opposed.
There is also growing international pressure on Mogadishu from key partners to rethink idea.
Foreign Minister Ali Balcad’s interview on Al-Jazeera TV first sign Mogadishu is cracking under pressure.
The minister said Egyptian troops will still come but only as ‘trainers” – a hint there they may not join a post-ATMIS successor force or replace Ethiopian troops.
A major shift in tone if not substance by Mogadishu but still the notion of Egyptian troops in Somalia as trainers unlikely to mollify Ethiopia, especially given the escalating tensions and breakdown in talks over Nile waters and Ethiopian dam project
