Saturday September 6, 2025

Former Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi speaks during an interview with the Somaliland Chronicle, where he claimed African Union pressure derailed a planned deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia and alleged that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed once sought to bring Somalia’s former president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo to Hargeisa. CREDIT/ Somaliland Chronicle

Mogadishu (HOL) — Former Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi says a planned agreement with Ethiopia collapsed under pressure from the African Union, the Arab League and major international partners, adding that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed once pushed to bring Somalia’s former president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo to Hargeisa.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Somaliland Chronicle lasting more than an hour, Bihi recalled how Somaliland and Ethiopia had been poised to transform the memorandum of understanding they signed in early 2024 into a full-fledged agreement. But, he said, the momentum collapsed when Addis Ababa came under heavy pressure from powerful regional and international actors.

The memorandum provoked an immediate outcry across the region. It hinted that Ethiopia might secure coveted access to the Red Sea through Somaliland’s ports in exchange for recognition of the territory, which has governed itself for more than three decades without international approval. Mogadishu denounced the deal as a direct assault on Somalia’s sovereignty, while regional organizations cautioned it could destabilize an already fragile Horn of Africa.

Bihi went further, alleging that Abiy sought to cast himself as a peacemaker by bringing him together with former Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo. “Abiy called us both and urged us to make peace,” he recalled. “I told him the people elected me with a mandate for separation.”

He added that Abiy later pressed for Farmaajo to travel to Hargeisa, but he personally blocked the trip. “I spoke directly to Farmaajo and told him: if you want to come to Hargeisa, you will come on our terms. He agreed, but Abiy was pushing him, so I stopped the visit,” Bihi said.

On Somaliland’s external relations, Bihi said its outreach to Taiwan followed a standoff with China’s ambassador to Somalia, who had urged him not to raise the issue of independence. “I told him: if you do not recognize Somaliland, then I do not recognize you. That’s when we turned to Taiwan,” Bihi said.

He claimed Beijing later sent six senior officials to Hargeisa with offers of money and development projects if Somaliland cut ties with Taiwan, but Somaliland refused. “They told us to ask for whatever we wanted, but we declined,” he said.

Turning to Somaliland’s ties with Washington, Bihi said the relationship deepened after he visited the U.S. capital. But he warned that talk of an American base in Berbera must be handled delicately. Such a move, he said, could draw Somaliland into wider conflicts, even exposing it to retaliation from Yemen’s Houthi movement across the Gulf of Aden.

“Any agreement must be balanced and reflect the interests of both sides,” he said.

 FULL INTERVIEW BELOW: