Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdisaid Muse Ali arrives for the first day of a European Union- African Union summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, February 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters
Somalia’s prime minister has suspended the foreign minister on Tuesday, citing the authorisation of a ship exporting charcoal to Oman in violation of international sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council banned such shipments a decade ago to cut funding for the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, an al Qaeda franchise fighting Somalia’s central government.
Reuters reports that, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble’s office said that as well as suspending Foreign Minister Abdisaid Muse Ali, he had ordered an audit and judicial investigation into the ministry’s authorisation of the shipment.
Ali could not be reached and foreign ministry spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.
The status of the shipment was unclear.
Writing by Muzha Kucha