MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somalia is ready to play a mediation role to resolve a bitter border dispute between two of the neighbours Djibouti and Eritrea, the country’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Speaking to the media, Somali Foreign Minister, Ahmed Issa Awad said the country has expressed its desire to play a mediation role to the governments of Djibouti and Eritrea.
A border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea resulted in armed clashes in June 2008, leaving several people dead from both sides.
“We will play a constructive role to bridge the gap between Eritrea and Djibouti. Somalia believes reconciliation between Djibouti and Eritrea also helps to end the hostilities that engulfed the horn of Africa.
The border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea is perennial, starting from the colonial days when the former was under French administration while the latter under the Italians.
They have argued over ownership of the area called Ras Doumeira since the 1900s.
The UN Security Council responded by imposing sanctions an arms embargo on Eritrea over claims Asmara was financing trouble-makers in the Horn.
In 2010, Qatar agreed to mediate the conflict and offered to provide troops as a buffer between the two sides.
Both sides seemed amenable to the offer and it somehow quietened the trouble.
That was until last year in June when Doha withdrew the troops, in the wake of a blockade imposed on Qatar by its Middle East neighbours.
Incidentally, neighbours like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates accused Qatar of financing terrorists, a charge it has denied.
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