Lack of Funds Leads to Closure of Somali Embassies Abroad

A statement from Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says that insufficient funding has forced the fragile UN backed Transitional Federal Government to close all its embassies and recall most of its embassy staffs. The cabinet and the TFG President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed reached the decision and said the embassies to be affected are those in Europe and America. In a statement that was sent to all the embassy staffs, the government said “Lack of funds has forced Somalia to close all its embassies in the world and the workers are informed to return to the country,”

The embassies to be shut down are those in Kenya, France, Belgium, Germany, Tanzania, Indonesia, Zambia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, USA, and many others that are regarded as full of activity. “The Foreign Affairs Ministry will carry out work reform. The embassies will be reopened once the funding is available,” the statement added. “The embassies that will be closed are those undertaking a lot of work and the action will undermine the government’s plans of spreading its wings throughout the world”.

The action comes as the Italian government promised to reopen its embassy in the war-torn country. Critics say that the rampant corruption and embezzlement of the funds is affecting the operations of most of the Somali embassies. The critics also add that the government was working on underfunding.

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NewsTime