Ethiopia and Somalia have found a peaceful compromise in a simmering dispute over access to the Red Sea.
With Turkey acting as mediator, the two countries in the Horn of Africa said they would finalize an agreement in the coming months that could, for example, allow the landlocked country of Ethiopia to lease long-term a port in the territory of the neighbouring coastal state.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presented the agreement at a press conference in Ankara on Thursday.
The crisis between the neighbours began about a year ago when Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland agreed to grant Ethiopia access to the Red Sea. Somalia saw this as a violation of its sovereignty.
Ethiopia, with a population of around 126 million, has long sought access to the Red Sea, a major trade route connecting East Africa to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
So far, Ethiopia’s only trade route via the Red Sea has been through the port of Djibouti – at extremely high costs. Talks with neighbours Eritrea and Somalia have been unsuccessful in the past and often ended in tension.
GNA
