Somalia has cut ties with Kenya, accusing it of violating Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Relations between the two East African countries have been tense over the ownership of potential oil and gas deposits, some of which lie off the coast of Jubbaland, one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states.

Somali Information Minister Osman Dube made the announcement in a televised speech on Tuesday, news agency Anadolu reported.

Dube said all Somalian diplomats in Kenya had been ordered to return home, while Kenyan diplomats in Somalia were ordered to leave the country within seven days.

“Somalia made this decision after the latest blatant interference by Kenya in Somalia’s internal affairs. The current leadership of Kenya always wanted to create problems in Somalia,” said Dube.

Kenya denied Somalia’s accusations.

“Kenya has no diplomatic presence in Somaliland but takes cognisance of the political and economic stability of the region and is keen to enhance and broaden trade in goods and services, as well as, investment as the cornerstone for long-term development cooperation with the region,” Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry posted on Twitter.

On November 30, Somalia expelled the Kenyan ambassador and recalled its ambassador from Kenya, alleging that its neighbour was interfering in the electoral process in Jubbaland.

Somalia’s foreign minister Mohamed Abdirizak said on Sunday the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an eight-country trade bloc which includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes region, would hold a summit in Djibouti on December 20 to discuss the stand-off between the two countries.