Somalia
Somalia to close its foreign embassies, says FM
By
Feb 5, 2010 - 1:17:09 PM

Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jengeli has announced that his government is planning to close down several of its foreign embassies.

Jengeli said the embattled government is taking the plan, which was passed by the cabinet, due to lack of resources and would be reopened once the government is financially capable.    

 “The cabinet has passed this plan and we are already implenemnting it.  We can’t maintain the cost of running the embassies,” he said.
He adds, “They will be reopened once the government is financially able, we are also looking for monetary backers to pay the embassy’s bills.”
 
He said the affected embassies include France with the few remaining ones taking up the work of the effect ones, adding that its unfortunate to ‘close the key gateways of diplomacy’.
 
The plan to close embassies has been an issue within the UN-backed transition government, which was formed barely a year ago and the implementation will have huge impact on its diplomatic missions abroad.

GAROWE ONLINE


http://www.garoweonline.com