(Bloomberg) -- Somalia ordered an Ethiopian envoy to leave within 72 hours amid growing tensions between the neighboring countries.
Ali Mohamed Adan, a counselor at the embassy in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, was asked to leave after engaging in “activities incompatible with his diplomatic role,” including intervening in state affairs, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. It didn’t provide further details.
Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nebiat Getachew didn’t respond to a request for comment sent by text message.
The expulsion exacerbates tensions between the two countries that have been strained by landlocked Ethiopia’s plan to recognize Somaliland — a breakaway region in the north of Somalia — as a sovereign state in return for access to a port and a military base.
In April, Somalia expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and shut down its neighbor’s consulates in Somaliland and another breakaway region, Puntland, over Addis Ababa’s bid to secure direct access to the the Gulf of Aden.
Ethiopia signed an initial agreement with Somaliland in January that would make it the first nation to recognize the sovereignty of the semi-autonomous region.
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