by Nurat Uthman
Turkey plans to meet separately with Somalia and Ethiopia as part of its efforts to mediate a dispute over Ethiopia’s agreement to lease part of Somaliland’s coastline, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Thursday.
Turkey has already facilitated two rounds of talks between the two East African nations to help restore their relations. A third round, initially scheduled for Tuesday in Ankara, was cancelled.
Tensions flared in January after Ethiopia agreed to lease a 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch of Somaliland’s coastline in exchange for recognizing its independence. Somalia, which considers Somaliland a breakaway region, condemned the deal as illegal, expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador, and threatened to remove Ethiopian troops stationed in Somalia to fight Islamist insurgents.
In an interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency, Fidan said Turkey is continuing to engage with both Somalia and Ethiopia through diplomatic channels, expressing optimism that progress is being made. “The parties have ‘converged to a certain point’ during the Ankara talks,” he noted.
Fidan also mentioned Turkey’s new strategy of holding separate one-on-one discussions to help bring their positions closer before resuming direct talks. “Instead of convening the same parties for another round of indirect talks, we aim to build common ground through individual meetings before bringing them together,” he said, emphasizing that important lessons had been learned from the earlier rounds of negotiations.
