Somalia's opposition says pacts with Ethiopian, other countries signed without parliament’s approval

A group of Somalia’s opposition parties on Tuesday accused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of making agreements with Ethiopia without parliament's approval, passing an illegally constituted election commission and mutilating the constitution by signing defence and development pacts with foreign countries without the approval of legislators.

The opposition leaders were speaking at a press conference convened and addressed by Himilo party chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former president, Wadajir party chairman Abdirahman Abdishakur and Senator Abdi Ismail Samatar.

The leaders accused President Hassan of going against a parliamentary censure motion he sponsored against Ethiopia when it signed a maritime agreement with Somaliland.

Somalia then signed defence pacts with Egypt and Eritrea to counter what they termed Ethiopia's aggression and lack of respect for its sovereignty.

The opposition leaders now claim that the president reinstated diplomatic relations with Ethiopia without parliamentary approval.

They also claimed that similar defence and development pacts with Egypt, Eritrea, Uganda and other countries did not have parliament's approval.

"There was a parliamentary censure motion that said we will not speak to Ethiopia until it retracts from the memorandum of understanding (with Somaliland). Has Ethiopia retracted from that MoU? No, it has not. Now for the same President who sponsored the censure motion against Ethiopia to now go to Addis Ababa and break that censure motion – isn't this disrespecting our parliament?" asked former president Sharif.

Sherif also faulted a defence and development pact signed between Somalia and Turkey, terming it illegal. He also asked why the agreement with Ethiopia was signed in Ankara while Turkey had signed another agreement with Somalia.

"We are neighbours with Ethiopia, but we have a long-standing conflict with them which we want resolved, but at what cost? We don't want our land to be the negotiating factor but want a mutually beneficial agreement. That is the agreement we want and which we are ready for," he said.

Senator Abdi thanked Turkey for standing with Somalia when they needed it most but warned Ankara against taking advantage of the situation in Somalia.

On 19 August 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife made a historic visit to Somalia, the first by a leader from outside of Africa in almost 20 years. They came at a time when the country was grappling with one of the worst droughts amid an ongoing conflict at the time.

Since then, Turkey has invested heavily in Somalia and has even built its biggest embassy in Africa and a military base.

It signed two major deals with Somalia in 2024. In February, it signed a comprehensive maritime and defence agreement and in March it signed an oil and gas cooperation deal.

"We respect the people of Turkey, we respect their president and their institutions, but we just want to tell them a simple truth, a simple human truth, and that is our country is not for lease or sale and we want him and his institutions in Turkey to understand that," Abdi said.