Harun Maruf
Wednesday April 5, 2023
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, left, receives credentials from Cuba’s ambassador to Somalia, Juan Manuel Rodriguez, in a photo posted on Twitter April 4, 2023, by @TheVillaSomalia, Mohamud's official Twitter account.
Somalia and Cuba have agreed to resume diplomatic relations after 46 years, Somalia’s minister of foreign affairs has said.
Abshir Omar Jama confirmed the diplomatic rapprochement in a Twitter post on Monday.
“Having established diplomatic relations between 1972-1977, we welcome the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba governed by cooperation and mutual respect,” he wrote.
Cuba’s ambassador to Somalia, Juan Manuel Rodriguez, was one of three ambassadors who submitted credentials to Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on Tuesday.
Somalia’s Jama met the Cuban ambassador on Monday ahead of Rodriguez's meeting with Mohamud.
“Honored to receive the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the Federal Republic of Somalia, Amb. Juan Manuel Rodriguez,” Jama said.
Rodriguez is also Cuba’s ambassador to Kenya.
Somalia broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1977 during the war between Somalia and Ethiopia. The Cuban government under Fidel Castro sent thousands of Cuban troops to assist the Soviet-backed Ethiopian government during the war.
Somalia’s former foreign minister, Ahmed Isse Awad, said Somalia and Cuba do not share cultural and geographical relations but adds the country cannot “self-imprison” to what happened in the past.
“If they (Cuba) sent us an ambassador and want to improve relations with us it’s a gain,” Awad said. “I don’t think it’s in our interest to relive past hostility.”
Awad said Somalia currently enjoys good diplomatic relations with both Ethiopia and Russia.
Cuban hostages
The immediate concern for Cuba may be winning the release of two Cuban doctors abducted by the al-Shabab militant group in northern Kenya in April 2019.
Awad said when he was foreign minister in the previous Somali government, he was contacted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla about the two hostages.
“I used to tell them that they are safe, they have not been killed and that they work as doctors for those who are holding them,” he said.
He said he told Cuba that Somalia will, “to the best of our ability,” play a role in securing freedom for the two doctors.
Awad said al-Shabab has not officially made any demands for the doctors. The group has previously released foreigners it held hostage after alleged ransom payments.