Ethiopia’s President in Djibouti on Two-Day Official Visit
ADDIS ABEBA –Ethiopian President Sahlework Zewdie has held talks with President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti on a day she begun her two-day long official visit to the neighboring nation.
Sahlework left Addis Abeba Bole International Airport on Sunday morning for Djibouti’s Ambouli Airport, where she was received by Djibouti Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohammed and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.
Djibouti is among the countries that provided a positive response to the law enforcement operation carried out by the Ethiopian government in Tigray regional state, according to the FBC.
Sahlework held talks with the president of Guelleh prior to her appearance at the Djiboutian Parliament on Monday.
She told president Guelleh that the people of Tigray demonstrated their love for peace standing by the side of the national defense forces, who captured TPLF’s stronghold, Mekelle, on Saturday.
During the talks, President Guelleh has congratulated the government and people of Ethiopia “for the successful accomplishment of the operation” in Tigray while expressing his support for a peaceful and united Ethiopia.
Speaking to The Africa Report magazine on Tuesday, Preisident Guelleh said the operation Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched in Tigray was necessary to keep Ethiopia united.
Responding to a question, why has the military offensive against the Tigray forces was the only solution?, he said:
“Let’s try to put ourselves in Ahmed’s shoes. Ethiopia is faced with a major problem: a political organisation known as the TPLF is stripping its federal authority and has structured itself so as to bring the central government to its knees.
“Ethiopia’s prime minister has two options to choose from: one, he can negotiate with Tigray’s government, with each party separate and on an equal footing. This can only lead to the partition of Ethiopia, as it will set a precedent under which other regional groups will be able to assert their own secessionist claims. Two, he can restore law and order at the federal level, and punish those seeking to break up the country.
“I think Ahmed has taken the second route, which will allow the population to elect their own leaders. That’s why he moved to replace the regional administration and dissolved Tigray’s parliament. It’s clear that as a country that shares its borders with Ethiopia and could thus be impacted by the conflict, Djibouti has one single wish: that peace be restored”.
