Kenya said it ‘regrets’ inviting a representative of Somaliland’s Nairobi office to a diplomatic briefing hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House on Tuesday evening, the country’s foreign ministry said.
The presence of the “Somaliland flag” during the conference was “inadvertent and improper,” according to a letter addressed to the Somali Embassy in Nairobi.
“The Ministry further wishes to reaffirm its recognition of one Federal Somali Government and the integrity of the Federal Somali State,” it said.
The issue began after Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Mohamoud Ahmed Nur ‘Tarzan,’ refused to attend a state luncheon thrown by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi for the diplomatic corps.
The ambassador thought it was unacceptable that a person from the Somaliland liaison office was invited to the occasion.
Despite the fact that Somalia considers Somaliland to be its territory, it has not objected to the region’s liaison office being established in Nairobi, and has previously allowed Nairobi to open a consulate in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s city.
Mr Nur claimed he walked out on Tuesday because Nairobi had invited and granted the same diplomatic credentials to a Somaliland Liaison Office official, which he deemed a breach.
The demonstration occurred only days after President Uhuru Kenyatta travelled to Mogadishu to attend President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia’s inauguration, promising improved relations between the two countries, who had suspended diplomatic ties temporarily in December 2020. Somalia also guaranteed Kenya the reopening of the Miraa market.
