Türkiye and four other countries have called for dialogue to reduce tensions in Somalia, reiterating their support for Horn of Africa nations’ sovereignty.
The Somalia quint group states, which includes Türkiye, the United States, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, assembled for their seventh meeting in Washington on Tuesday and discussed steps to reduce tensions through dialogue, including Turkish-sponsored mediation efforts, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement on Thursday.
Representatives from Somalia's government also took part.
Türkiye has so far hosted two rounds of meetings between the East African neighbors in an attempt to repair their relations. A third round of talks initially set to take place in Ankara last month was canceled.
Relations nosedived in January when Ethiopia agreed to lease 20 kilometers (12 miles) of coastline from the breakaway Somaliland region in exchange for recognizing its independence.
Mogadishu called the agreement illegal and retaliated by expelling the Ethiopian ambassador and threatening to kick out thousands of Ethiopian troops stationed in the country helping battle Islamist insurgents.
Last month, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara would hold separate talks with the sides before hosting new negotiations.
The Quint states also discussed the need to focus on shared economic and security objectives, particularly to address ongoing and emerging threats from terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa.
The partners supported Somalia's efforts to generate capable, professional and accountable security forces and defense institutions.
"They agreed to take steps to improve coordination of international training to facilitate more effective near-term operations and to assist the FGS (Federal Government of Somalia) to develop a long-term training capability," a joint statement from Qatar, Türkiye, the UAE, U.K. and the U.S. said after the meeting.
It said the Quint discussed the urgent need to finalize plans for the new African Union Stabilization and Support Mission in Somalia following the end of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
They stressed the importance of ensuring broad stakeholder input into the planning process, including from troop contributors, to produce a mission with feasible and resource-informed goals and tasks and a clear exit strategy synchronized with Somalia's security sector capacity-building.
The partners also discussed the urgency of finalizing funding options for the upcoming new peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
Meanwhile, China also called on all parties in Somalia to "keep up the momentum, strengthen dialogue and unity and stay committed to resolving differences through dialogue."
Addressing the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, Ambassador Dai Bing urged continued funding to sustain the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.
