The Tripartite Agreement between

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

and

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

is a cooperation agreement signed between the three countries' leaders on 5 September 2018.

September 2018 agreement

The Tripartite Agreement, formally titled the ''Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea'', states that given their "close ties of geography, history, culture and religion as well as vital common interests" and "respecting each other's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity", the three countries agree to cooperate and "build close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties", coordinate to "promote regional peace and security" and establish a ''Joint High-Level Committee'' to coordinate the implementation. The agreement was signed in

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

on 5 September 2018 by

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali ( om, Abiyi Ahmed Alii; am, አብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who has been the 4th prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since 2 April 2018. He won the 2019 ...

, prime minister of Ethiopia,

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ( so, Maxaamed Cabdullaahii Maxaamed, ar, محمد عبدالله محمد; born 11 March 1962), also known as Farmaajo, is a Somali politician who served as president of Somalia from 2017 to 2022. He was prime minist ...

(''Farmaajo''), president of Somalia, and

Isaias Afwerki Isaias Afwerki ( ti, ኢሳይያስ ኣፍወርቂ, ; born 2 February 1946) is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in ...

, president of

Meetings and actions

The second tripartite meeting was planned for November 2018, with the three national leaders meeting in

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

and

Bahir Dar Bahir Dar ( amh, ባሕር ዳር, 3=sea shore) is the capital city of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The ci ...

Amhara Region The Amhara Region ( am, አማራ ክልል, Åmara Kilil), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the Reg ...

. On 27 January 2020, Abiy, Isaias and Farmaajo held a Tripartite meeting in

. They adopted a ''Joint Plan of Action for 2020'' focussing on "peace, stability, security, and economic and social development" and including a "security" component to "combat and neutralise ... terrorism, arms and human trafficking and drugs smuggling".

Martin Plaut Martin Plaut (born 1950) is a journalist and academic specialising in conflicts in Africa, especially the Horn of Africa. He worked as a BBC News journalist from 1984 to 2012 and is a member of Chatham House. , Plaut was a ''senior research fell ...

, a journalist specialising in Africa, commented on the lack of a press conference following the meeting, complaining about the lack of details regarding the Tripartite plans. Plaut suggested that the 27 January Tripartite meeting, together with bilateral meetings by Abiy to an Eritrean military base in July 2020, Farmaajo to Asmara on 4 October 2020, and Isaias to the Harar Meda Airport air base in

Bishoftu Bishoftu (; ) is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it sits at an elevation of 1,920 metres (6,300 ft). It was formerly known as Debre Zeyit () however since the late 1990s it has been officially k ...

on 14–15 October 2020 were used by the three leaders to discuss and prepare strategy for the

Tigray War The Tigray War; ; . was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray Peop ...

References

{{Tigray conflict History of Eritrea History of Ethiopia History of Somalia Horn of Africa