Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he will visit Ethiopia and Somalia in the first two months of next year, which follows his brokering of a deal on Dec.11 between the two countries to relieve tensions over maritime access to the Red Sea.
“Thanks to their cooperation, we signed (the deal) and we finished the job,” Erdoğan said at an event with young people in the eastern province of Erzurum on Dec. 14. “‘ I told them, ‘God willing, I will visit Ethiopia and Somalia in the first two months of next year and we will announce this step we have taken to the world.’”
Erdogan had hosted Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Ankara where the agreement was signed after an eight-hour meeting.
The agreement seeks to resolve the conflict over Ethiopia’s agreement with Somaliland to build a port and naval base and recognize it as an independent country. Somalia contested the agreement claiming Somaliland illegally broke away from Somalia. The agreement “reaffirmed their respect and commitment to one another’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity.” Erdoğan said that Ankara’s strong relations with both sides had allowed it to make progress with mediation efforts where others could not.
