Today, Somalia officially announced that the Ethiopian Embassy in Mogadishu is going to be removed from the compound of Presidential Office.
Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia in a press briefing said that the Ethiopian embassy will be relocated to old location. He said this decision has been made because of public protests on this issue.
Somalia, on Tuesday, declared an Ethiopian diplomat persona non grata. He was given 72 hours to leave Somalia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somalia, in a statement, accused Ali Mohammed Aden, Ethiopian Counselor II, of violating international diplomatic standards. In April this year, Somalia expelled the Ethiopian Ambassador Mukhtar Ahmed and it withdrew its ambassador to Addis Ababa.
Since the start of this year, Somalia and Ethiopia have been involved in a bitter dispute over an MoU signed by Ethiopia with Somaliland. According to the MoU, which has not been made public so far, Somaliland will let landlocked Ethiopia build a navy base in Somaliland in return for Ethiopia declaring Somaliland a country. Somaliland is internationally recognized part of Somalia. Somalia calls Ethiopia-Somaliland MoU a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ahmed Moalim Figi in today’s press briefing said, “it is not appropriate for a foreign embassy to be found in the premises of the president office.” “we would like to make the Somali embassy in Addis Ababa in the compound of the president of Ethiopia, if Ethiopian embassy in Mogadishu is not relocated,” he added. It seems that tensions could further rise in coming weeks between Ethiopia and Somalia. Somalia has given an ultimatum to Ethiopia to withdraw all its peacekeeping troops from Somalia by the end of this year. Ethiopia is reluctant and it wants to continue its military presence in Somalia.
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