Somalia lodges protest after Kenya calls Somaliland a country

Somalia protested formally to Kenya, the foreign ministry in Mogadishu said Monday, after Nairobi referred to the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland as a country.

Somaliland declared its independence in 1991 but is not recognised by the international community, which considers it an autonomous region of Somalia.

Kenya invoked the ire of its war-torn neighbour last week after referring in a tweet to a meeting with Somaliland officials as covering "issues of mutual interest to both countries".

Somalia's foreign ministry said it summoned Kenya's ambassador on Sunday and presented him a note of protest about the "offensive tweet".

"We consider this tweet an affront to Somalia's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity as well as harmful to the relationship between Somalia and Kenya," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Somalia stands for good-neighbourliness, mutual respect and close cooperation with its neighbours, and expects the same from Kenya."