The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced that Arab League's statement against the Ethio-Somaliland MoU holds noting useful but contempt to African solutions to African problems.
Briefing journalists yesterday, MoFA Spokesperson Ambassador Meles Alem (PhD) said that the press statement by the Arab League undermines not only Ethiopia's role in the region, but also the old-aged Ethio-Arab diplomatic relationship.
"The Arab League statement is unacceptable. It is actually known that which country is pressuring the organization. I was attending the webinar session [of the meeting]. The statement released following the session contempt Africans clearly. Africans have the full potential to resolve their own problems. So, the statement by League undermines the notion of "African solutions to African Problems", he said.
Ethiopia and the Arab world have long standing diplomatic relationship which stood the test of time in the face of various regime changes. Contrary to this, the Arab League has released a statement which ignores the Ethio-Arab diplomacy, Amb. Meles noted.
"Egypt and the Arab League are the two sides of a coin. It needs to be told honestly. The statement by the Foreign Minister of Egypt is not useful too. It does not match with the relationship of the two countries. Ethiopians and Egyptians are the peoples of the Abbay River. Accordingly, Ethiopia has firm stance not to aggravate issues," he stated.
He also said that such destructive statements, especially by the Egyptian side, are not new. "They were disseminating same contents over the Abbay dam in the past years. Ethiopia has no plan to negotiate issues using media reports."
According to Amb. Meles, countries which are very distant from the region, including Egypt, have military bases. Ethiopia, having no port and access to sea is being pressured and they answer no to the reason, according to the Spokesperson.
To him, the fortune of this generation is dependent on access to sea which can be justified as a matter of equity and justice.
Speaking about the current diplomatic situation between Ethiopia and Somalia, Amb. Meles said that his country opts a peaceful diplomatic approach as the only available solution.
