The Somali president's delegation returned to Mogadishu, Ethiopia's response and how the president arrived at the conference center

Hassan Shiekh Mohamud

The Somali president's delegation returned to Mogadishu, Ethiopia's response and how the president arrived at the conference center

Reports coming from Mogadishu state that the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and the delegation he led that attended the African Union conference returned to Mogadishu, after a security dispute between them and Ethiopian security officials.

Somalia has issued a statement accusing Ethiopia of preventing their delegation from entering the center of the African Union conference. The Ethiopian government spoke about the incident that angered the delegation of the Somali president. Ethiopia's Deputy Minister of Communications sent the following statement to the BBC:

Ethiopia's answer

"The government of Ethiopia has warmly welcomed the president of Somalia, given the full respect that is given to all leaders who came to the African Union.

As we are the host country, the Ethiopian government is responsible for the security of the presidents and heads of state while they are in the country. The Somali delegation refused to give it to the government's security forces. In addition, the security forces in Somalia tried to enter the African Union headquarters with weapons, and this was opposed by the security forces of the African Union. Ethiopia is committed to good relations with its neighbors. That was Ethiopia's response to Somalia's accusation that it prevented the president's delegation from entering the African Union summit.

How did the president of Somalia go to the meeting center?

This issue came as the Somali delegation said that there was a sense of security. The president of Somalia said earlier that armed soldiers were at his hotel. He added that he had to accompany the other leaders attending the meeting. "This morning when I prepared to come to the closed-door meeting of the summit, the Ethiopian security forces stood in front of me. They refused to let me leave the hotel, and go in my vehicle to where the meeting was taking place.

It took me a long time to get there and finally I arrived in another president's vehicle. Once again when we arrived at the headquarters of the African Union, we two presidents, the president of Djibouti and I were again prevented from entering the headquarters of the African Union. Soldiers with guns stood in front of us and refused to let us in. That behavior was the one we saw, and I was not the only one, there were other leaders who were involved in the same way," said the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. He added that what is important is what Ethiopia is doing and not the "good" words of the Ethiopian prime minister.

What went wrong

The Geneva convention talks in detail about security protocols for leaders, according to the BBC's Ahmed Abdullahi Kabole, who comments on security issues. "Public security is always the responsibility of the host country, but the guests themselves have the right to discuss security issues with their leaders in the country they are visiting," said Kabole. He added that Somalia and Ethiopia had an opportunity to discuss this. "In the current situation, we can understand that they did not allow it, but the Geneva convention allowed Somalia to withdraw from the security of the Somali president together with the security forces of Ethiopia, and put together his plan," he added.

He criticized that armed soldiers went to the hotel where the president of Somalia was staying. Somalia asked the African Union to "immediately conduct a credible and independent investigation" into the act that Somalia was outraged by. Somalia described this as a violation of international law and the traditional culture of the African Union This issue led to a serious tension between security and protocol in a matter of hours. The African Union has not yet addressed this crisis.