Addis Abeba– Turkey aims to meet separately with Somalia and Ethiopia before the third round of Ankara talks, as part of its efforts to resolve tensions between the two East African nations, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday.
Turkey has so far hosted two rounds of meetings between the East African neighbors in an attempt to repair relations that began to deteriorate in January, when Ethiopia agreed to lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastline from the breakaway Somaliland region in exchange for recognizing its independence.
A third round of talks, initially scheduled to take place in Ankara on Tuesday, was postponed due to scheduling conflicts with the United Nations General Assembly.
Tensions have recently escalated following reports of Egypt sending military officers and heavy equipment to Somalia. Media outlets have suggested this could involve up to 10,000 Egyptian soldiers.
In response, the Ethiopian government has issued a warning, stating that the transition from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) to a new peace support mission is “fraught with dangers” for the region.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs further emphasized that the country “cannot stand idle while other actors are taking measures to destabilize the region.”
Reuters reported that Fidan, speaking to the state-owned Anadolu news agency, said Turkey was continuing to engage with Somalia and Ethiopia at the ministerial and head of state levels. He added that he was hopeful of finding a solution, as the parties had “converged to a certain point” during the Ankara talks.
“Rather than bringing the same sides here for direct talks—and they don’t meet directly anyway, they meet with us—we aim to establish one-on-one contact to converge positions and later bring the sides together when their positions reach a fully common point,” Fidan said, adding that there were “lessons” learned from the first two rounds of talks. AS
