Can Turkey resolve the problems between Somalia and Ethiopia? The conflict that has been ongoing since 1991

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske Selassie and Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ahmed Muallim Fiqi in New York, where he was attending the 79th UN General Assembly. The two countries, which have border disputes, could find solutions to their problems through Turkey's mediation. Representatives of the two countries had previously met twice in Ankara under Turkey's mediation as part of negotiations called the 'Ankara Process'.

A post on the ministry's X account stated that Fidan held separate meetings with his Ethiopian counterpart Selassie and his Somali counterpart Fiqi at the Turkish House in New York.

The post noted that the ministry continues to seek a balanced, viable, and mutually beneficial solution to the tension between the two countries based on the Ankara Process.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske Selassie (left) and Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ahmed Muallim Fiqi (right)

PROBLEMS BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SOMALIA

Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world.

Having lost its access to the sea after Eritrea effectively separated from Ethiopia in 1991 and gained legal independence in 1993, Ethiopia has kept the issue of access to the Red Sea on its agenda for economic reasons and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this direction with Somaliland on January 1.

The memorandum in question drew serious reactions from Somalia and the international community because it included a promise to recognize Somaliland.

Somaliland President Musa Bihi Abdi had stated that with the completion of the agreement, Ethiopia would recognize them as 'independent'.

The Somali government, in turn, recalled its ambassador from Ethiopia after Ethiopia made a sea access agreement with Somaliland.

The Arab League and the African Union announced that they rejected and condemned the agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland regarding cooperation on sea access, which ''paves the way for the construction of a military base and port development in the Red Sea''.

While the Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Somalia were brought together in Nairobi on March 9-10 to resolve the crisis between the two countries, no results were obtained from the indirect negotiations held between the two nations.

News Source: AA