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(MENAFN – SomTribune) “> WhatsApp
In a surprise move, Somalia’s federal prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Rooble, expelled his foreign minister, Ahmed Issa Awad, on Thursday.
The Prime Minister did not justify or hint at what he found wrong with the relatively long time minister.
More surprisingly, the replacement of the ousted minister, Mohamed Abdirizak Mohamoud, one of many advisers to President Farmajo, was announced.
However, reliable sources blamed a letter bearing the official emblem and title of the government’s own foreign ministry that appeared on social media Wednesday.
The letter unconditionally supported the Ethiopian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed indirectly condemning the right of the Tigray people to rebel against the status quo.
“Somalia reaffirms its solidarity with Ethiopia under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in maintaining constitutional order and respecting Ethiopia’s territorial integrity,” read the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated November 18.
Shortly after its publication, the Ministry repudiated it without denying its authenticity. Instead, he diverted the ‘opinions’ to an unidentified source, perhaps another way of saying it was from the Minister himself.
‘This is to clarify that there is no official statement of
@MofaSomalia on the situation in #Ethiopia. The statement making rounds does not represent the views of the Federal Government of Somalia and is therefore invalid, ”said Minister, Amb. Ahmed Awad, posted on his official Twitter account.
The expulsion of the minister was read on the government’s own television channel, SNTV, by Information Minister Osman Dubbe, who said that the minister would move to an unspecified ambassadorial responsibility.
Awad later declined the offer.
In light of recent opinion pieces and photos of President Farmajo and Abiy Ahmed playing friendly with each other, Ethiopia’s denial of support is as mysterious as the expulsion itself.
Ethiopia maintains some 4,000 soldiers in Somalia under the AMISOM peacekeeping mandate and a larger number remaining under no known formal agreement that has often been branded as a gift from Abiy to Farmajo to keep him in power where he is not needs it.
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