Ethiopia Somalia talks ongoing in Ankara are facing stumbling blocks. The talks, mediated by Turkey, kicked off on Monday.
Ethiopia and Somalia have been locked in a dispute since January this year. In January, landlocked Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with self declared country Somaliland. The MoU, if implemented, will realize Ethiopian dream of gaining access to sea in return for Somaliland achieving its goal of getting recognition as a country.
Somaliland is internationally recognized part of Somalia. Somalia is opposing the MoU from day one, calling it a violation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Monday’s talks between the two countries is their second indirect engagement in the last 2 months. Earlier, under the auspices of Turkish government, they met in July but no agreement could be reached.
This morning, the two parties resumed talks after a break of around 10 hours. They held an indirect session of marathon talks yesterday. At around 12:00 am they took a break. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met twice with each of Ethiopian and Somali Foreign Minister led delegations.
Ethiopian delegation demanded the implementation of a past agreement. In 2018, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the President of Somalia Abdullahi Farjmajo agreed to jointly develop four ports in Somalia and link them to Ethiopian territory. The projects could not be completed.
Somalia wants Ethiopia to publicly withdraw from MoU with Somaliland before engaging in direct talks with Ethiopia. Reportedly, Somali delegation offered sea access to Ethiopia under UNCLOS (United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea) 1982. Terms and conditions of the offer and acceptance have not been finalized.
It seems that so far no agreement has been reached. No breakthrough has been announced by the negotiators. Turkey, Ethiopia’s key trade partner, has strong defense ties with Somalia too. Erdogan on weekend, contacted both Ethiopian and Somali leaders and hoped that the negotiations would lead concrete results.
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