Four African leaders call for dialogue as fighting escalates in Ethiopia

The leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan called for political dialogue and regional cooperation after meeting Sunday in Egypt’s New Alamein City, as renewed fighting intensified in northern Ethiopia.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan issued a joint declaration supporting peaceful solutions to regional conflicts. They backed Sudan’s territorial unity and a Sudanese-led political process to end the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The declaration also rejected recognition of Somaliland, said responsibility for Red Sea navigation and governance should remain with coastal states, and opposed unilateral measures affecting downstream countries’ use of transboundary rivers. Egypt and Sudan have long sought a binding agreement governing Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

The meeting coincided with escalating conflict between Ethiopia’s federal forces and an armed alliance that includes the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Government and allied forces retook Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, on Sunday after the TPLF said it had temporarily withdrawn from the city.

Ethiopia has accused Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of supporting the armed alliance; all three governments deny involvement. Eritrea, in turn, has accused Addis Ababa of seeking a pretext for an attack. The four-country declaration did not name Ethiopia, according to The National, but several of its provisions addressed disputes involving Addis Ababa and its neighbours.