After 46 years, diplomatic ties between Somalia and Cuba will be restored, according to Somalia’s foreign affairs minister.
The diplomatic reconciliation was confirmed by Abshir Omar Jama on Monday in a tweet.
“We welcome the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba, which were previously established between 1972 and 1977,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, one of the three ambassadors who presented their credentials to the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was Juan Manuel Rodriguez of Cuba.
Before Rodriguez met with Mohamud on Monday, Jama, the ambassador of Somalia, had a meeting with Cuba.
It was an honor for Jama to accept the credentials of Juan Manuel Rodriguez, the recently appointed ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the Federal Republic of Somalia. In addition, Rodriguez is Kenya’s ambassador to Cuba.
Somalia severed diplomatic ties with Cuba during the war between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977. During the war, the Fidel Castro-led government of Cuba dispatched thousands of its soldiers to aid the Ethiopian government, which had received support from the Soviet Union.
Ahmed Isse Awad, a former foreign minister for Somalia, stated that while there are no cultural or geographical ties between his country and Cuba, he added that Somalia cannot “self-imprison” itself in the past.
“It’s a win if they (Cuba) sent us an ambassador and want to mend fences with us,” said Awad. In my opinion, we shouldn’t go back to the animosity of the past.
According to Awad, Somalia currently has positive diplomatic ties with Ethiopia and Russia.
Cuban captives
Obtaining the release of two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped by the militant organization al-Shabab in northern Kenya in April 2019 may be the main concern for Cuba at the moment.
Awad claimed that when Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla of Cuba was the country’s foreign minister, he contacted him regarding the two hostages while he was still the foreign minister of the previous Somali government.
He said, “I used to tell them that they are safe, that they have not been killed, and that they work as doctors for those who are holding them.”
According to him, he assured Cuba that Somalia will do everything in its power to secure the two doctors’ release.
Al-Shabab, according to Awad, has not made any formal demands for the physicians. Foreign hostages held by the group have previously been released.
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