Somali Government Resolves Dispute Between Its Embassies in Kenya, Tanzania

Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s federal government says it has resolved a rare public dispute between its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, closing a rift that raised concerns about internal coordination across the country’s diplomatic network.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Omar Balcad said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded an internal review and implemented recommendations to prevent a repeat of the episode, which centered on overlapping roles and communication lapses among missions in East Africa.

The dispute surfaced in September last year when Somalia’s embassy in Tanzania issued a statement criticizing a visit by the Somali ambassador to Kenya to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Tanzanian mission said the trip was undertaken without its knowledge, calling it a breach of diplomatic norms and an encroachment on its mandate.

Somalia’s ambassador to Tanzania, Ilyas Ali Hassan, also serves as the country’s nonresident ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the East African Community. The Somali embassy in Kenya rejected the criticism at the time, saying the visit was intended to strengthen trade relations and promote opportunities for Somali businesspeople operating in the region.

“The matter has been resolved,” Balcad said in an interview with the Mizan Podcast, describing the incident as a teachable moment for the foreign service. He said the ministry convened an advisory committee of former Somali ambassadors to review the dispute, summoned both envoys to appear before the panel and adopted recommendations aimed at tightening protocol.

“It was unfortunate that the mistake happened, but we learned from it. We hope it will not happen again,” he said.

Balcad acknowledged shortcomings in training and internal guidance within Somalia’s diplomatic service and said clearer procedures and stronger coordination will be put in place to avoid similar conflicts. He did not elaborate on specific corrective measures or whether any disciplinary action was taken against the officials involved.

According to the minister, the measures are designed to ensure that Somali missions operating across multiple jurisdictions — especially where nonresident accreditation overlaps — communicate consistently and avoid mandate confusion.

• Establish clearer procedures for inter-mission coordination when visits involve countries covered by nonresident accreditation.
• Strengthen internal guidance to standardize approvals and information-sharing before official travel.
• Provide refresher training on diplomatic protocol and lines of authority across embassies and regional posts.
• Draw on the experience of former ambassadors as an advisory resource when disputes arise.

The swift resolution is intended to reassure partners in East and Central Africa that Somalia’s foreign policy is coordinated and predictable as the country expands engagement with regional blocs and neighboring states. Somalia’s foreign ministry has been working to rebuild and professionalize its institutions after decades of upheaval, and the incident laid bare the pressures on a growing network of missions navigating overlapping portfolios and fast-evolving regional priorities.

Officials framed the controversy as an outlier in an otherwise expanding diplomatic footprint, but its public nature underscored how missteps can quickly complicate relationships within the region. By closing the dispute and committing to tighter procedures, the ministry signaled it is aiming to balance an increasingly active agenda on trade, security and political cooperation with disciplined internal processes.

Balcad emphasized that the government expects the new guidance to reduce friction among missions while preserving the agility needed to pursue economic and political opportunities. “We learned from it,” he said, adding that the ministry hopes stronger coordination will keep similar disagreements from spilling into public view.

Somalia has broadened its diplomatic outreach in recent years and is seeking to convert that engagement into concrete gains for Somali citizens and businesses across the Horn of Africa and beyond. The foreign ministry’s response to the embassy dispute reflects the country’s efforts to align that ambition with professional standards and clear chains of command.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.