Ethiopia and Somalia have made \u201cnotable progress\u201d in efforts to settle a dispute sparked by Ethiopia\u2019s deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland, Turkey\u2019s foreign minister said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Hakan Fidan made the comments at the end of a second round of talks between the foreign ministers of Somalia and Ethiopia that are being mediated by Turkey.<\/p>\n
“I am pleased to announce that the number and extent of issues we discussed, has increased significantly, compared to the first round. We were able to focus on the details and technicalities of concrete steps,\u201d Fidan said in a video message recorded at his ministry. \u201cWe believe that a collaborative and constructive solution is within reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flanked by his counterparts from Ethiopia and Somalia, Fidan added that a third round of talks would be held on Sept. 17.<\/p>\n
Tensions between the two African countries have simmered since Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland in January, which Somalia denounced as infringing upon its sovereignty and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n
Under the disputed deal, Somaliland would lease a 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch of land along its coastline to Ethiopia to establish a marine force base. With a population estimated at over 120 million, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world.<\/p>\n
In return, Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland\u2019s independence. Somalia has said it\u2019s prepared to go to war over it as it considers Somaliland part of its territory.<\/p>\n
Fidan, who has held meetings with his Ethiopian counterpart, Taye Atske Selassie, and Somalia\u2019s Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi since Monday, did not provide details on the discussions.<\/p>\n
However, last week he told reporters that he had proposed an arrangement that would ensure Ethiopia\u2019s sea access via Somalia. In return, Ethiopia would acknowledge Somalia\u2019s territorial integrity and political sovereignty, he said.<\/p>\n
In the video, Selassie thanked Turkey for its mediation and reaffirmed Ethiopia\u2019s wish to \u201csecure dependable access to and from the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to having continued engagement that will ultimately help us resolve current differences and restore normal relations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fiqi said progress was made in the latest round of talks, and expressed hope that the momentum will result in a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomalia remains committed to protecting its sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity,” he said.<\/p>\n
A first round of talks was also held in the Turkish capital in July.<\/p>\n
Turkey has forged close ties with Somalia, and recently signed deals toward cooperation in defense and oil and gas exploration. It also has economic and trade ties with Ethiopia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ethiopia and Somalia have made \u201cnotable progress\u201d in efforts to settle a dispute sparked by Ethiopia\u2019s deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland, Turkey\u2019s foreign minister said Tuesday. Hakan Fidan made the comments at the end of a second round of talks between the foreign ministers of Somalia and Ethiopia that are being mediated by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"AP","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,32],"tags":[114,189,491,502],"class_list":["post-12916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-economy","tag-ethiopia","tag-somalia","tag-somaliland","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}