{"id":16919,"date":"2025-07-13T12:11:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=16919"},"modified":"2025-07-13T12:11:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:11:01","slug":"somalia-ethiopia-tensions-escalate-as-port-deal-talks-stall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/16919\/somalia-ethiopia-tensions-escalate-as-port-deal-talks-stall\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia-Ethiopia tensions escalate as port deal talks stall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan hosted Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Ankara on Friday for a high-level meeting focused on strengthening bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of counterterrorism and regional cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>The talks were held behind closed doors at the Presidential Complex, according to a statement released by T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Communications Directorate.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting comes as tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia escalate as mediation efforts over a controversial port access agreement stall. The talks, brokered by Turkey since February 2024, aim to resolve a dispute triggered by a deal signed on January 2024 between Ethiopia and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, Ethiopia would gain access to a 20-kilometre stretch of Somaliland\u2019s coastline. In exchange, Somaliland would receive support for its long-sought international recognition. Somalia, which considers Somaliland part of its territory, strongly opposes the deal, calling it a violation of its sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>Mogadishu has launched a diplomatic campaign to block the agreement and has appealed to the United Nations for intervention.<\/p>\n<p>On July 3, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated his government&#8217;s position, describing sea access as essential for Ethiopia\u2019s economic development. His comments echoed earlier statements from January that were strongly condemned by Somali officials.<\/p>\n<p>Somalia again denounced the deal, referring to it as a \u201cland grab,\u201d and urged the international community to take action.<\/p>\n<p>The standoff has attracted the attention of regional powers. Earlier this week, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. During the meeting, Egypt pledged to strengthen military cooperation and support Red Sea maritime security.<\/p>\n<p>No breakthrough has been reached in the Turkey-led negotiations, and no further rounds of talks have been scheduled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan hosted Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Ankara on Friday for a high-level meeting focused on strengthening bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of counterterrorism and regional cooperation. The talks were held behind closed doors at the Presidential Complex, according to a statement released by T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Communications Directorate. The meeting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","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_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","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","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2362,33],"tags":[114,1179,4193,189],"class_list":["post-16919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-ethiopia","tag-hassan-sheikh-mohamud","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-somalia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16919","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=16919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}