The office of the Ethiopian prime minister said mediation efforts were designed to ‘ ease tensions
NAIROBI, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, accompanied his Somalian counterpart Mohamed Farmaajo to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where the former will lead efforts to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Last month, Kenya summoned its ambassador to Somalia, saying it was protesting a decision by the Mogadishu government to auction oil and gas exploration blocks at the centre of a maritime territorial dispute in the Indian Ocean.
Somalia’s Foreign Ministry denied the allegations.
“Somalia is not now offering nor does it have any plans to offer any blocks in the disputed maritime area until the parties’ maritime boundary is decided by the ICJ.”
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is considering a claim on the two countries’ maritime boundaries brought by Somalia in 2014 after negotiations over the 100,000 square km stretch of seafloor broke down.
The office of the Ethiopian prime minister said mediation efforts were designed to ‘ ease tensions that have been building’.
Abiy left with Farmaajo, after holding bilateral talks in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Somalia’s presidency on Tuesday tweeted that Farmaajo’s main objective is to ‘restore and strengthen diplomatic relations’ with Kenya. — NNN-AGENCIES
