Why Somalia is important for Egypt in Nile dam crisis

CAIRO — Political relations are rapidly changing in the Middle East and Africa — including Egyptian-Somali relations, which seem to have chilled with the neutral Somali position on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) crisis.

On March 8, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received the new Somali ambassador to Egypt, Ilyas Sheikh Omar. On the same day, Omar issued a statement expressing Somalia’s willingness to initiate a rapprochement with Egypt.