Somalia has sent an Ethiopian ambassador in Mogadishu back home, closing two consulates in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and in the breakaway region Somaliland due to a dispute over a port deal.

Two Somali officials said this on Thursday.

Ethiopia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Nebiyu Tedla, said the country did not have any information on the matter.

The prime minister’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Landlocked Ethiopia agreed on a memorandum of understanding on January 1 to lease 20km (12 miles) of coastline in Somaliland, a territory that Somalia says it owns, even though the northern region had enjoyed effective autonomy since 1991.

Ethiopia said it wanted to set up a naval base there and offered possible recognition of Somaliland in exchange, prompting a defiant response from Somalia and fears that the deal could further destabilise the Horn of Africa.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had called the deal illegal and said in February that his country would “defend itself” if Ethiopia proceeded with it.

The move to expel the ambassador and shut down the consulates has raised concerns over the fate of 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers stationed in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission fighting militants from al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate, according to diplomats and analysts.

In February, Mr Mohamud said he did not plan on kicking them out. 

(Reuters/NAN)