Signed on 1 January the MoU has escalated tensions between Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Somaliland as the pact could sink Djibouti's economy...

Presidents Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ismaïl Omar Guelleh did not pay attention...

Eventually Ismaïl Omar Guelleh got Muse Bihi to appoint a technical team to discuss with another team in Mogadishu led by Abdikarim Hussein Guled...

Hassan Sheikh saw that Djibouti and Eritrea would be natural allies against the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal and quickly arranged meetings with Presidents Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and Issayas Afewerki...

It also reflects the mood after the multiple meetings attended by Burhan in November with regional leaders some of whom he was at loggerheads with: Kenya's William Ruto (14 November); Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed (on 15 November); Djibouti's Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and Eritrea's Issayas Aferwerki (26 November)...

Regionally the offensive has warmed Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to Hassan Sheikh and the marriage of the former head of the Mogadishu police Sadeeq Joon to the daughter of President of Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti has done him no harm...

Neither the Somali regional government nor Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh himself an Issa born in Ethiopia would find this acceptable...