Thursday February 25, 2021
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Ankara is dispatching its foreign minister on a shuttle diplomacy between Nairobi and Mogadishu next month in a bid to mediate the differences between the two neighbours as the maritime case at The Hague hits the homestretch.
HOL has learnt that Mevlüt Çavusoglu will be visiting Kenya and Somalia early next month where he’s expected to engage Presidents Mohamed Farmaajo and Uhuru Kenyatta.
The two leaders have had rocky relations in the last two years culminating in the breakup of ties last November.
Somalia expelled Kenya’s ambassador to Somalia Lucas Tumbo in November and kicked out all diplomatic staff mid December over what the Farmaajo administration said was continued interference with his country’s internal affairs.Nairobi has maintained innocence and the regional bloc IGAD cleared it of wrong doing following a fact finding mission in January. Mogadishu dismissed the report as bias and done on the bidding of Kenya.
It is not however clear how Turkey intends to circumvent the ongoing political turmoil in Mogadishu which has seen Farmaajo come under intense pressure from the opposition and a section of Federal Member States.
His term lapsed February 8 and the opposition has demanded he hands over power to a caretaker Transitional Council.
Turkey is also hoping to bring the two countries to the table on the ongoing maritime row though that mission seems to have been overtaken by events as proceedings at The Hague near the end.
The UN court threw out Kenya’s prayers last month for a forth time delay of the case and ruled it resumes on March 15.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been influential in Somali’s reconstruction process especially in rebuilding the country’s economy and military has sought to stand out among a host of western powers including the US, EU and UK which have maintained a strong grip of the Horn of Africa nation through hard power instruments such as the Security Council and financial muscle.
Turkey has also made inroads in Kenya through trade and military hardware supplies.