There will be no new mediation talks until Turkey meets with both Somalia and Ethiopia individually

Turkey wants to settle a disagreement between Somalia and Ethiopia over a deal that Ethiopia agreed to rent a section of shoreline from Somaliland. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that Turkey plans to meet with both Somalia and Ethiopia separately.

So far, Turkey has held two rounds of meetings between the East African neighbors to try to fix things between them. A third round of talks that were supposed to happen in Ankara on Tuesday was canceled.

In January, things went very badly when Ethiopia decided to rent 20 km (12 miles) of coastline to the breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for recognizing its independence. Mogadishu said the deal was illegal and responded by kicking out the Ethiopian minister and saying they would also kick out the thousands of Ethiopian troops who were stationed in the country to help fight Islamist rebels.

Fidan told the state-run Anadolu news agency that Turkey was still talking to Somalia and Ethiopia at the cabinet and head of state levels. He also said that he was hopeful that a solution could be found because the parties had “converged to a certain point” in the Ankara talks.

Fidan said, “Instead of bringing the same sides here for direct talks—they don’t meet directly anyway, they meet us—we want to have one-on-one contact to bring their positions closer together and then bring them together when their positions reach a totally common point.” He also said that the first two rounds of talks had taught them “lessons.”