Tigray crisis: Somalia withdraws statement backing Ethiopia

Somalia has sent mixed messages on its stand on the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray state after its foreign affairs ministry retracted a statement that had expressed ‘support for the unity of Ethiopia’.

The statement had also ‘reaffirmed Somalia’s solidarity with the government of Ethiopia under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in keeping the constitutional order and respecting the territorial integrity of Ethiopia’.

But hours later it was deleted from the foreign affairs ministry website and the minister, Ahmed Isse Awad, tweeted a denial that Somalia had issued an official statement.

‘The statement making the rounds does not represent the views of the Federal Government of Somalia, and therefore is not valid,’ he said.