MOGADISHU, Somalia – The minister of foreign affairs said the Ethiopian embassy building will be soon relocated to another location and removed from the presidential palace compound known as Villa Somalia.
During an interview with state TV, Agmed Moalim Fiqi said the government is working on this issue carefully since the embassy has been operating inside the palace since 2006 when Ethiopian troops entered Mogadishu, protecting the transitional government led by late President Abdullahi Yusuf.
“Ethiopian embassy will no longer work in our presidential palace, where top leaders are located and the country’s secret is kept, it would either relocate to its original land or another rental place,” said Fiqi, adding that the Somali embassy is not located in Ethiopia’s presidential place in Addis Ababa.
The relations between Somalia and Ethiopia are at their lowest point and brewing with each passing day. Both sides are at loggerheads over a sea access MoU that PM Abiy Ahmed signed with Somaliland leader Muse Bihi in January this year in Addis Ababa.
Somalia has expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and a top diplomat from Mogadishu and summoned its ambassador to Addis Ababa for consultations. This shows a brewing diplomatic tension with Turkey is trying to mediate between the two east Africa neighbors.
HORN LIFE
