Four African leaders issue joint declaration as Ethiopia war escalates

Egyptian, Eritrean, Somali and Sudanese leaders also call for talks to end the civil war in Sudan.

Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan have called for political and peaceful solutions amid escalating conflicts across the region, including Sudan’s civil war and major fighting in Ethiopia.

The leaders of the four countries – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council – issued a joint declaration on Sunday following a meeting in New Alamein City in Egypt.

Ethiopia has accused Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of backing the armed alliance fighting its government. Officials from all three countries have denied involvement.

Earlier on Sunday, el-Sisi said that cross-border challenges required “a dialogue, not confrontation”.

The joint declaration appeared to push back against several policies pursued by Ethiopia in recent years, highlighting widening rifts between Addis Ababa and its neighbours.

The declaration backed Sudan’s military-led government and called for a political process led by Sudanese parties.

Sudan has been at war since April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Sudan and Ethiopia have traded accusations of interference in Sudan’s civil war.

The declaration also said control of the Red Sea should remain with the coastal states, seemingly in response to landlocked Ethiopia’s pursuit of sovereign access to the sea and a naval presence.

Somalia’s Mohamud told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Mogadishu does not object to Ethiopia securing commercial access through Somali ports, provided it is agreed with Somalia.

Egypt and Sudan, which have long disputed Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile, warned against what they called “unilateral measures” that harm downstream states.

The joint declaration was issued as fighting escalated in Ethiopia between federal forces and a seven-group armed alliance, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which fought a brutal two-year war with the government that ended with a fragile peace deal in 2022.

Government and allied forces retook the city of Mekelle on Sunday after the TPLF said it “temporarily moved out of” Tigray’s regional capital to “operate from somewhere else”.

According to Ethiopian state media reports, former Tigray interim leader Abraham Belay said on Sunday that the federal government is preparing a new temporary administration for the region and hopes to hold regional elections within months.

Ethiopian officials have accused neighbouring Eritrea of directly backing the rebel alliance in Ethiopia’s civil war.

Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said in a post on X on Sunday that Addis Ababa was trying to create a pretext for attacking Eritrea.