Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry has apologised for uploading a map onto its official page that does not feature neighbouring Somalia.

The map, uploaded on the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs page, showed neighbouring Somalia incorporated into Ethiopia’s own borders, but recognised the self-declared territory of Somaliland as an independent country.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the map had “crept” on to the website and it was “wrong and unacceptable”.

“We sincerely regret for any confusion and misunderstanding this incident might have caused,” the statement read.

The two African nations have long been rivals and have fought border wars since 1964

Relations between the nations is believed to have improved since Ethiopia’s newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought to defuse tensions in the region.

The map also incorporated the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo as one country, and showed South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, as the same country as Sudan.

In a statement, the Somalian Government said: “Our ICT team is working to ensure the security of the website”.

However, it said, it remained unclear who was responsible and why the map was drawn in the first place.

The picture has now been removed and replaced with a logo of the foreign ministry.

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-ABC