By: Yusuf M Hasan
MOGADISHU (Somalilandsun) – The new Foreign minister has star
ted to show her mantle.
The foreign ministry has summoned all its representatives abroad for a consultative meeting to be held in Mogadishu on 10th January 2013.
According to a communiqué dispatched to the ambassadors and consular’s by the foreign minister M/s Fozia Yusuf Haji Aden, the envoys are expected to report on their activities as pertains to the country’s bilateral relations in each of their specific areas of domain.
Those summoned include over twenty fully fledged ambassadors and four Consular’s who have been asked to come prepared for their briefing to foreign minister, during the Mogadishu foreign policy assessment plenary session.
Ms Fozia Yusuf who became the first woman to hold the dual posts of deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs is gradually and confidently consolidating her powerful positions despite earlier misgivings by some who claimed that she was unfit for the posts because she is not only a woman but originally from Somaliland a country whose proclamation of sovereignty in 1991 is contested by the Mogadishu government she serves.
A long term confident of president Hasan Sh Mahmud who was behind her appointment to the dual posts by Prime Minister Saeed Shirdoon, Ms Fozia is known to have designs in changing the negative perspective held international for Somalia thus the January foreign policy assessment meeting with her underlings.
On the other hand, some of the envoys with lackluster performance have raised fears over their jobs and are of the opinion that the Mogadishu meet is not for plenary briefing but en-masse firing.
Queried on this claim by Somalilandsun the foreign minister Ms Fozia Yusuf said that the summons are related to facilitating a plenary briefing by the entire country’s foreign representation and if any new ambassadorial appointments or sackings are to occur it will be at an appropriate time and shall be done with fear or favour.
According to the foreign ministry website, www.embassypages.com, four fully fledged embassies are maintained in Mogadishu by Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkey and Yemen while Somalia maintains 22 embassies and 4 consulates abroad.
Somali embassies abroad
1. Belgium – Brussels
2. China – Beijing
3. Djibouti – Djibouti Ville
4. Ethiopia – Addis Ababa
5. France – Paris
6. Germany – Berlin
7. India – New Delhi
8. Indonesia – Jakarta
9. Iran – Tehran
10. Italy – Rome
11. Kenya – Nairobi
12. Kuwait – Kuwait City
13. Oman – Muscat
14. Pakistan – Islamabad
15. Qatar – Doha
16. Russia – Moscow
17. Saudi Arabia – Riyadh
18. Sudan – Khartoum
19. Turkey – Ankara
20. Uganda – Kampala
21. United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi
22. Yemen – Sana’a
Somali consulates abroad
1. Australia – Melbourne, Consulate General
2. Saudi Arabia – Jeddah, Consulate General
3. Turkey – Istanbul, Consulate
4. United Arab Emirates – Dubai, Consulate General
