Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki will be arriving in Mogadishu today barely two months after a delegation from his country visited Somalia to deepen the bilateral relations of the two countries. Somali presidency on Thursday in a Twitter post confirmed that a high-level delegation led by president Isaias Afwerki would be arriving in Mogadishu to hold a high-level meeting with Somali leaders.
The villa Somalia said the visit by President Afwerki to Somalia bears significance on bilateral relations and show how the countries are determined to advance their cooperation.
“On the invitation of H.E. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, H.E. Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea will pay an official state visit to Somalia today to further strengthen the historical ties between the two brotherly nations. The two head of states will have bilateral discussions on areas of mutual benefits,” reads the post.
The visit of President Afwerki comes two months after a delegation led by Eritrean Foreign Minister, Osman Saleh reached Mogadishu to help improve bilateral relations between the countries.
The Somalia – Eritrea thaw in relations comes after that of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which even saw about two decades of hostilities normalized.
Both Eritrea and Somalia have not had diplomatic ties for nearly 15 years, in particular, because of Asmara’s alleged support for al- Shabaab.