- Turkey mediating Somali-Ethiopian talks over Somaliland port deal
- Ethiopia’s lease of Somaliland coastline strains Somalia relations
- Ethiopia promises to assess Somaliland’s independence bid
According to Turkey’s foreign ministry, the Somali and Ethiopian foreign ministries will meet in Ankara next week to discuss disagreements over a port deal Ethiopia inked with Somaliland this year.
Tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia would be resolved with Ethiopia’s access to the seas through Somalia, as long as Ethiopia recognises Somalia’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty,” Hakan Fidan said during a news conference in Istanbul on Friday.
Turkey is mediating negotiations between the East African neighbours. Relations were strained in January when Ethiopia agreed to lease 20 kilometres (12 miles) of Somaliland’s coastline in exchange for recognition of its independence. Somalia claims Somaliland as part of its territory.
The arrangement gives Ethiopia a 50-year lease on a naval base with access to Somaliland’s Berbera port. It was signed on January 1 in Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland leader Muse Bihi Abdi.
In April, Somalia announced the removal of Ethiopia’s ambassador from the nation. It also closed Ethiopian consulates in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s largest city and capital, and Garowe, Puntland’s semiautonomous capital.
Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most populated countries, with 120 million inhabitants, but a lack of access to the sea has hampered its economy. It was cut off from the Gulf of Aden during a three-decade-long war in which Eritrea seceded in 1993, taking with it the whole country’s former coastline.
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In exchange for the accord, Ethiopia promised to conduct an “in-depth assessment” of Somaliland’s bid for official recognition as an independent nation, the first time any other country has offered to do so.
Fidan made the announcement a week after visiting Addis Ababa and meeting Abiy.
Somaliland is a self-governing breakaway nation. Somalia considers any international recognition as an infringement on its sovereignty.
The Somali government has described the port contract as “outrageous” and “unauthorised.”
Turkey has become a close ally of Somalia, constructing schools, clinics, and infrastructure and offering scholarships for Somali students to study in Turkey.
In 2017, Turkey established its largest foreign military facility in Mogadishu. This year, Turkey and Somalia signed a defence and commercial cooperation deal.
