Somalia Wants Ethiopia Excluded From Force Battling Al-Shabaab
- Somali position may strain already fraught ties with Ethiopia
- New peacekeeping force scheduled to start operating in 2025
About 13,000 troops from Ethiopia and four other nations are set to leave Somalia at the end of this year, before a reconstituted mission is scheduled to take over next year.
Photographer: Ed Ram/Getty Images
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Somalia’s government asked the African Union and United Nations to exclude Ethiopian soldiers from a revamped peacekeeping force fighting al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.
The request will strain already fraught relations between the two countries. Ties deteriorated in January, when Ethiopia offered to recognize Somaliland — a breakaway region in the north — as a sovereign state in return for access to a port and a military base in a region that Somalia regards as part of its territory.