The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his delegation arrived in Cairo, on Sunday. They were warmly welcomed at the airport by the Minister of Finance of Egypt, Mr. Mohamed Mu’id, diplomats and officials of the Somali Embassy in the country.
A statement from Villa Somalia said that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, on how to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries, especially on economic cooperation, security and education.
The President’s delegation includes the Director of the National Intelligence Agency, Mahad Mohamed Salad, who has deep ties with politicians and officials in Egypt.
This trip to Egypt came a few days after the cancellation of a trip by the President of Somalia to Addis Ababa, after the Ethiopian government requested that the trip be postponed.
Tensions are rising between Egypt and Ethiopia as the latter country prepares to fill its Great Renaissance Dam unilaterally.
Ethiopia’s Great Renaissance Dam has been a source of bitter dispute between Egypt and Sudan on the one hand and Ethiopia on the other, with the two downstream nations accusing the east African country of trying to cut off their water supply.
The Egypt visit is Mohamud’s seventh foreign trip since he returned to power in May after winning the Horn of African country’s presidential election.
The Somali President returned to Mogadishu on Saturday after completing a two-day visit of Tanzania where he attended the 22nd Ordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State as a special guest. Somalia is still pushing to be admitted into the EAC.
Before his Tanzanian trip, Mohamud visited Kenya, Eritrea, United Arab Emirates, Djibouti and Türkiye.
The 66-year-old is keen to improve Somalia’s relations internationally even as his administration also focuses on internal peace and security.
