The Somalia government today expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and closed two Ethiopian consulates in Garowe and Hargeisa.
The Somalia government has accused Ethiopia of interfering in Somalia’s internal affairs. The government also ordered Ethiopian diplomats to leave the country within a week.
“Diplomats and employees of the Ethiopian government working in the two consulates in the cities mentioned above must leave the country within a week,” said the statement.
The resolution also stated that the diplomats of the Ethiopian Government who do not comply with this resolution “are committing a violation against the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Somalia” and additional measures will be taken in accordance with the rules of international diplomacy, as stated in the text.
Ethiopian Ambassador Mukhtar Mohamed Ware has been ordered to leave the country within 72 hours, according to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ali Balcad.
The conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia started in January after Addis-Ababa signed an agreement with Somaliland, in which it was said that Ethiopia will be given maritime territory to make it a military base and a port.
Somaliland also said that Ethiopia instead recognizes Somaliland as a country independent of Somalia, although Addis-Ababa did not confirm this.
On the other hand, this decision comes a day after Ethiopia received a delegation from the Puntland administration that visited Addis-Ababa.
The Facebook page of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that Ethiopia and the Puntland regional government have agreed to improve relations which they say has many aspects.
In the statement, it was said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia Ambassador Mesganu Arga warmly welcomed a delegation led by the Minister of Finance of Puntland Mohamed Farah Mohamed to his office.
The delegation also said that the new Puntland administration wants to strengthen bilateral relations with Ethiopia, and stressed the importance of focusing on trade, infrastructure development and economic cooperation, the statement said. .
Puntland has been at loggerheads with the federal government for a while, and it recently said that it withdrew recognition from the federal government Somalia.