Turkey’s Erdogan to Visit Somalia, Ethiopia in Early 2025 After Brokering Deal

GOOBJOOG NEWS | ISTANBUL: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Somalia and Ethiopia early next year after brokering a deal to end tensions between the two Horn of Africa neighbors.

“I will visit Ethiopia and Somalia in the first two months of the New Year,” he wrote on X Sunday.

During a recent meeting in Turkey, the two countries resolved to end their nearly yearlong bitter dispute after hours of talks brokered by Erdogan who termed the deal as “historic.”

The dispute began in January when landlocked Ethiopia struck a deal in with Somalia’s breakaway region Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base.

Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in a move not recognized by Mogadishu on its part said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition, although this was never confirmed by Addis Ababa.

Somalia branded the deal a violation of its sovereignty, setting international alarm bells ringing over the risk of renewed conflict in the volatile Horn of Africa region.

Turkey stepped in to mediate in July, holding three previous rounds of talks — two in Ankara and one in New York — before last week’s breakthrough, which won praise from the African Union, Washington and Brussels.

Additional reporting by AFP