Somalia and Ethiopia have said they would work together to resolve a dispute over Addis Ababa’s plan to build a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which had drawn in regional powers and threatened to further destabilise the Horn of Africa.The two countries’ leaders said they had agreed to find commercial arrangements to allow landlocked Ethiopia “reliable, secure and sustainable access to and from the sea” after talks on Wednesday mediated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had flown into Ankara for the talks following two previous rounds that made little progress.Speaking in the Turkish capital after the agreement, Mohamud said the neighbours had “mutual interests in co-operating together”.“We belong to a region where peace and stability is first priority for our people’s lives,” he said.The meeting was their first since January when Ethiopia said it would lease a port in Somalia’s breakaway northern region of Somaliland in exchange for recognising the area’s independence.Mogadishu rejected the deal and threatened to expel Ethiopian troops who were stationed in Somalia to fight insurgents.Somalia opposes international recognition of Somaliland, which has governed itself and enjoyed comparative peace and stability since declaring independence in 1991.In a joint statement released late on Wednesday, Somalia and Ethiopia said they had agreed to start technical negotiations by the end of February next year, and to conclude them within four months.They did not go into detail.“This joint declaration focuses on the future, not the past,” Erdogan said at a press conference in Ankara afterwards.The African Union (AU) has meanwhile urged Ethiopia and Somalia to implement the agreement “without delay”, calling the deal an “important act”.AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the “important act” taken by the leaders to find a deal but emphasised the urgency to “implement, without delay, the relevant measures adopted”.He did not give any indication in the statement, posted on X, of what measures had been agreed.East Africa’s regional bloc IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development) also welcomed the agreement as an “important step”.It “demonstrates a commitment to resolving bilateral issues amicably”, IGAD executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said.According to the text of the accord published by Turkiye, the parties agreed “to put aside differences of opinion and contentious issues, and to move resolutely forward in co-operation towards common prosperity”.They agreed to work closely together on commercial arrangements and bilateral agreements that would ensure Ethiopia’s “reliable, safe and sustainable access” to the sea “under the sovereign authority of the Federal Republic of Somalia”.To that end, it said they would start technical talks no later than the end of February which would be completed “within four months”, with any differences to be dealt with “though dialogue, where necessary with Turkiye’s support”.However, there was no detail on how the agreement might impact the controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Somaliland and Ethiopia, which has never been made public.Ethiopian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment about the future of the agreement with Somaliland.A source close to the Somaliland government said nothing had changed regarding the agreement with Ethiopia, noting: “Agreeing to work together to resolve their dispute is not the same as walking away from the MoU.”While Abiy has repeatedly insisted that his country must have coastal access, he told parliament earlier this year that Ethiopia had “no interest in getting involved in a war” over access to the sea.In response, Mogadishu has strengthened its ties with Egypt, Ethiopia’s long-time rival.Somalia expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in April and said Ethiopian troops would be excluded from a new African Union peacekeeping force against Islamist Al Shebaab insurgents that is due to be deployed on January 1.Ethiopia, which has the second largest population in Africa with 120mn people, lost access to the sea when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.Turkiye has close ties with both Ethiopia and Somalia, training Somalia’s security forces and supplying development assistance in return for a foothold on a key global shipping route.
