The government of Djibouti says it has yet to hear back from Ethiopian counterparts on its offer to hand over the full administration of Tadjourah Port.

Four months ago, in what was a landmark diplomatic overture, the Djiboutian government offered Ethiopia complete control of management of the strategic port in a bid to defuse tensions between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu.

“We have offered it, but we are still waiting for the response,” Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Djibouti’s foreign minister, told The Reporter.

During a press briefing conducted last week at the embassy in Addis Ababa in relation to his candidacy for chairmanship of the African Union Commission, the Foreign Minister touched on the Türkiye-facilitated Ankara Declaration signed between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and Somali President Hassen Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday.

Youssouf praised the countries for reaching a peaceful resolution to the tensions and reiterated his support for Ethiopia’s right to sea access in accordance with international laws.

“The UN convention regarding sea access for landlocked countries is very clear. They should have free, predictable and unhindered access. I believe we should work very hard to ensure that access for these countries is a legitimate right under the framework of international law,” he said.

The Minister also brought up his country’s proposal for an alternative.

“When it comes to sea access, Djibouti is open to partnerships and cooperation with neighbours. There is no problem with that. But, arbitration happening under international maritime law is of paramount importance,” said Youssouf.

When the Minister publicized his country’s proposal in August, he had mentioned that Türkiye has been trying to solve the dispute which ignited when Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with breakaway Somaliland, a deal Somalia saw as an infringement of its sovereignty.

The agreement in Ankara could mean that Djibouti’s offer is now redundant, but Youssouf says he has no qualms about making the gesture.

“When it comes to African problems, we always believe and are always saying that we do not need interference from abroad. We need to resolve them ourselves,” he said. “ But, if we as a region can not manage to help when one or two of our countries have problems, should we just sit and wait? If there is an initiative coming from anywhere to help and assist, we should accept it. That is what is happening in Türkiye. So, we accept that. Because we think that if the two brotherly countries feel that Türkiye will be more successful in mediation, why not?” 

During the briefing, the Minister spoke about the key improvements he would make as AUC chair. He sees peace and security, funding gaps and resource mobilization, infrastructure, and the issuance of a continental passport and currency as the most pressing issues on the AU’s agenda.

Youssouf noted that new conflicts have led to the deadline for the AU’s flagship Silencing the Guns initiative moving forward by a decade to 2030. He said the mobilization of financial resources and funding has become a bottleneck to the AU’s peace and security efforts.

“We have a USD 400 million peace fund. We are always expecting support from partners. The UN resolution passed last month regarding the financing of African peace missions assured us that 75 percent will be coming from the UN. We still need to mobilize the remaining 25 percent,” Youssouf said.

The Minister asserts that the challenge of fostering and mobilizing financial resources is a critical point that the Commission has to tackle so that missions are not hindered for lack of funding.

Issues surrounding peace and stability are also affected by the inoperational AU standby force.

“In cases of humanitarian crises, civil war, terrorism and other such incidents, we must be in a position to deploy the standby force. But, this is not the case on the ground; it is still on paper,” he said.

Youssuf recalled that the ASF had been active in Somalia, Mali and the Central African Republic 12 years ago and stated that the Commission must find the necessary mechanisms and leverage to reactivate the force. By Nardos Yoseph, The Reporter