CAIRO: The Arab League has summoned an emergency meeting via video link on Wednesday to discuss the implications of the recent agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland.
Assistant Secretary-General of the league, Ambassador Hossam Zaki said the meeting of foreign ministers had been called at the request of Somalia with the support of 12 Arab nations.
He said Somalia had already submitted an explanatory memorandum supporting its position.
Morocco, the current president of the ordinary session of the Arab League Council, will preside over the meeting.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit is also expected to meet Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud if he is in Cairo.
READ ALSO: Gaza Death Toll Surpasses 24,100 as Israel Continues Relentless Bombardment
Somalia’s ambassador to Egypt and permanent representative to the league, Elias Sheikh Omar Abu Bakr, announced on January 4 that his country had submitted a request for an emergency session.
He stressed the need to take a unified Arab position to respond to the open violation carried out by Ethiopia against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.
Somalia urges Arab nations to defend its sovereignty
The envoy called on Arab states to defend Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity under international resolutions and laws. He stressed the importance of adhering to the rules of good neighborliness to enhance peace, stability and security, in the Horn of Africa.
He said the Ethiopian actions represented a blatant violation of Somali sovereignty and further inflamed the situation in the area.
The Arab League and the Arab Parliament on January 3 joined the Somali government in denouncing a deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991.
Ethiopia on January 1, signed an agreement for naval and commercial access to a port on Somaliland’s coast in exchange for recognition of the breakaway region’s independence.
