👉 Courtesy: Al-Jazeera
💭 Somalia said it expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in Mogadishu and ordered the closure of two consulates — one each in the semi-autonomous Puntland region and the breakaway Somaliland region — in a dispute over a port deal.
"The plain interference of Ethiopia's government in the internal affairs of Somalia is a violation of the independence and sovereignty of Somalia," said the office of Somalia's prime minister in a statement Thursday.
The decision followed a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hamza Barre in Mogadishu.
A separate statement by Somalia’s foreign ministry said it had ordered Ethiopian Ambassador Muktar Mohamed Ware to leave the country within 72 hours, effective Thursday.
In an interview with VOA Somali, Somalia’s information minister, Daud Aweis Jama, said the decision came as Ethiopia continued to interfere in Somalia’s internal affairs.
“Nowadays Ethiopia has been repeatedly violating Somalia’s national, territorial independence. Therefore, the government has taken this decision to close two Ethiopian consulates and send [the] Ethiopian ambassador in Mogadishu and their diplomatic staff back to their country,” said Aweis.
Today’s government decision, however, came a day after the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, which is also a federal member state, announced it had signed a new cooperation agreement with Addis Ababa.
Puntland, whose relationship with Mogadishu has been marred by political disputes, said days ago that it had withdrawn from the country's federal system and that it would govern itself independently, following a dispute over constitutional changes approved by Somalia’s bicameral parliament.
“Somalia’s federal government is responsible for the country’s foreign affairs and we consider any agreement a country signs with a different side or a region a clear violation against Somali sovereignty,” said Aweis.
In response to today’s government decision, Puntland Information Minister Mohamud Aidid Dirir accused Mogadishu of trying to assert its control on “a territory it does not govern.”
