Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio on Wednesday hailed Ethiopia's key role in East Africa, saying the country is Italy's top partner in sub-Saharan Africa and its stability is crucial to security in the Horn of Africa.
"Ethiopia is Italy's most important partner in sub-Saharan Africa and is key to the Horn of Africa's security," Di Maio told the lower house of parliament.
"Addis Ababa, in turn, considers Rome its main political interlocutor in the European Union. Furthermore, Ethiopia is central to East Africa's stability, which cannot be imposed by force," Di Maio went on.
An internal conflict in Ethopia must be avoided, Di Maio said.
Di Maio was referring to the Ethopian federal government's week-old military offensive in northern Tigray province, after months of worsening tensions with its leaders and amid fears it could try to secede.
Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia) together with the territories of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea was part of wartime dictator Benito Mussolini's colony of Italian East Africa, which lasted from 1936-1941.
