Somalia has offered sea access to landlocked Ethiopia amid tense bilateral relations. The two are set to resume talks in Ankara next week.
Hakan Fidan, the Turkish Foreign Minister, announced yesterday that next week Turkey would host delegations from Ethiopia and Somalia to resolve bilateral tensions.
He said that Turkey would try to ensure that Ethiopia gains access to sea through Somalia and Ethiopia agrees to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.
Unprecedented tensions rose between Ethiopia and Somalia in January this year when Ethiopia signed a controversial Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland. Somaliland is internationally recognized part of Somalia but it has been existing as a separate entity, trying to get international recognition as a country.
The MoU between Ethiopia and Somaliland will give Ethiopia access to sea through Somaliland in return for recognizing Somaliland as a country. Somalia, angered by this MoU, recalled its ambassador to Addis Ababa and expelled Ethiopian ambassador.
Ethiopian leaders say that access to sea is an existential issue for a country with huge population like Ethiopia. Though Ethiopia has been using Djibouti ports for around 3 decades, it want to gain access to a port on long term lease.
Turkey is mediating between the two countries. In July, the foreign ministers from the two countries met in Ankara. They could not reach any agreement but they agreed to meet again in the first week of September.
Around a week ago, Turkish FM visited Ethiopia. After this visit, he announced that Ethiopia and Somalia would join talks next week.
Somalia, in the last engagement, offered Hobyo port to Ethiopia, which Ethiopia rejected. It remains to be seen which port this time would be offered by Somalia to Ethiopia and under which conditions.
Read more..
Ethiopia Rejects New Offer of Port Use From Somalia
Ethiopia Somalia Talks in Ankara Face Stumbling Blocks
Traders Go on Strike in Mogadishu, Somalia