Somalia expels Ethiopian ambassador as row deepens

BBC | Somalia has expelled the Ethiopian ambassador from the country and ordered the closure of two consulates.

It accused Ethiopia of infringing on Somalia's "sovereignty and internal affairs".

Somalia also recalled its ambassador from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, for "comprehensive consultations".

Ethiopia's foreign ministry spokesperson Nebiyu Tedla told Reuters news agency the government did not have information on the matter.

The expulsion highlights an escalation in diplomatic tensions in the region following land-locked Ethiopia's port deal with the self-declared republic of Somaliland earlier this year.

Its independence has not been internationally recognised and Somalia condemned the deal as an attack on its sovereignty.

In January, Ethiopia signed a deal with Somaliland to lease a 20km strip of coastline, so it could build a navy base.

This year Puntland said it would operate as a functionally independent state amid a dispute over Somali constitutional changes.

The two Ethiopian consulates that Somalia has ordered to close are in Hargeisa and Garowe, the capitals of Somaliland and Puntland, respectively.

The prospect of armed clashes between the two countries seems unlikely at this point. Ethiopia is one of the countries contributing soldiers to an AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, which complicates the situation.

There are already concerns that the Islamist group al-Shabab might be using tensions between the two countries to recruit fighters and increase security threats.

Escalations in the row between Somalia and Ethiopia could only worsen that.