Somaliland rejects Turkey-led proposal for Ethiopia-Somalia talks

Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has reaffirmed its commitment to a controversial deal it signed with Ethiopia, after Turkey’s alternative proposal to Addis Ababa.

Somaliland “remains committed to implementing” the Jan. 1 deal it signed with Addis Ababa, an official statement by the breakaway region said on Tuesday, amid ongoing reconciliation talks between Somalia and Ethiopia in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

The Turkey-brokered talks aimed to defuse tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia, after the Jan. 1 deal granting landlocked Ethiopia access to the Red Sea via Somaliland in return for the recognition of the breakaway region’s independence from Somalia. Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991, but its independence is neither recognized by Mogadishu nor by the international community.

Turkey seeks to reconcile Mogadishu and Addis Ababa under another proposal that will secure Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea via Somali territory instead of Somaliland. The second round of talks ended Tuesday without a breakthrough but made “notable” progress, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said. The two countries will resume the negotiations on Sept. 17 in Ankara, Fidan added.

Turkey’s proposal aims “to directly interfere with” the deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia, the breakaway region’s statement said. “Somaliland will not accept this.”

Mogadishu has sought to strengthen its ties with both Turkey and Egypt as part of its efforts to shore up foreign support in the face of the controversial deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland.

Somalia and Egypt signed a defense cooperation deal on Wednesday, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is on an official visit to Cairo, said after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The cooperation deal, which Mohamud said aimed to pave the way for exchanging knowledge in the defense sector, follows another defense cooperation deal Somalia signed with Turkey earlier this year allowing the Turkish army to deploy naval forces in Somali waters in addition to ground troops in the country.

Both Ankara and Cairo announced their support for Somalia’s territorial integrity in the face of the Somalia-Ethiopia deal. Turkey — which has been providing military support to Somalia, home to the largest Turkish military base abroad — also maintains close military and commercial ties with Ethiopia and assumed a facilitator role between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu through the negotiations launched in early July.