Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo has arrived Addis Ababa on Thursday as part of a continued round of shuttle diplomacy by Addis Ababa in the midst of an ongoing violence in Tigray.
A dispatch from the Ethiopian Embassy said Ms Omamo will meet her host and counterpart Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
She touched down at Bole International Airport on Thursday where she was received by Birtukan Ayano, the Ethiopian State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
“The Foreign [Affairs] ministers will deliberate on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest,” a dispatch said, without specifying the exact issues to be discussed.
“Ethiopia and Kenya enjoy 58 years of strong strategic partnership. Kenya’s solidarity with Ethiopia, during the former’s tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is one example of this partnership.”
The meeting came as Addis Ababa engaged renewed shuttle diplomacy with its neighbours to seek support for the ongoing Nile dam dispute with Egypt, as well as regional support against what Ethiopia sees as unwarranted pressure from the West to accommodate the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Uganda and Rwanda where he separately met with Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame.
The two countries, alongside Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, form the upper riparian zone for the Nile River whose water Ethiopia contributes most, but is consumed most by Egypt and Sudan, the lower riparian countries.