Photo/ Somali Times
Somalia has protested what it termed as ‘encroachment and intrusion’ by Kenyan forces on its border areas, but did not make reference to particular instances. A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thursday called for an ‘end’ to violation of its sovereignty by Kenya.
“The Federal Government of Somalia calls upon the Government of Kenya to immediately halt its ongoing violations of the Federal Republic of Somalia’s sovereignty and encroachment in the border areas between the two countries,” the statement read in part.
It added that Somalia would ‘not tolerate any country that is part of troop-contributing countries to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to overstep its mandate and abuse its membership and interfere in the internal affairs of host country with total disregard of the stipulated regulations of the Federal Government of Somalia.’ It was not immediately clear which instances Somali government was referring to but it just termed the ‘intrusion’ as ‘continued’ and that it was tantamount to the breach of sovereignty and stability of Somalia.
Kenya and Somalia have been on the verge of a diplomatic maritime row over a disputed 62,000-square-mile (160,580-square-kilometer) oil and gas-rich area in the Indian Ocean in the shape of a triangle that both nations claim.