BEVERLY HILLS, December 15, (THEWILL) –Â Somalia has severed diplomatic ties with Kenya, accusing it of violating its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Somalia accused Nairobi of “recurring” interference in its political affairs.
The move came after Kenya hosted the leadership of Somaliland, a breakaway state not recognised by Mogadishu, following months of tensions between the two neighbours.
Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe told reporters that Kenyan diplomats in Mogadishu had been given seven days to leave, and that Somalia’s envoys were being recalled from Nairobi.
“The Somali government considers the people of Kenya a peace-loving community who want to live in harmony with other societies in the region. But the current leadership of Kenya is working to drive the two sides apart.
“The government took this decision to respond to recurring outright political violations and interference by Kenya against the sovereignty of our country”, he said in Mogadishu.
Somalia said that a meeting of the heads of state of East African nations had been convened for December 20 in Djibouti to discuss the issue.
Somalia has bristled for months over what it calls Kenya’s meddling over its border, though officials did not point to specific grievances for its decision to break off diplomatic relations.
But the announcement came just a day after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta received in Nairobi the president of the self-proclaimed independent Somaliland region of Somalia, Muse Bihi Abdi.
And Somalia has long resented what it believes is Kenya’s support for Ahmed Madobe, the president of the Somali state of Jubaland.
Madobe is at odds with Mogadishu and has raised disagreements with the central government’s roadmap toward Somalia’s elections.
The Horn of Africa nation is scheduled to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections in early 2021.
But the process has been hampered by political infighting between President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and the country’s regional leaders.
Nairobi has in the past accused Mogadishu of using Kenya as a scapegoat for its own political problems.
