Ethiopia: Ethiopia Declares Egyptian Diplomat Persona Non Grata, Orders Departure Within 48 Hours

What the report says

Ethiopia has declared an Egyptian diplomatic staff member persona non grata and instructed him to leave the country within 48 hours, according to a statement from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported by the Ethiopian News Agency and distributed by AllAfrica. The notification names the diplomat as Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman, a member of Egypt’s diplomatic staff in Addis Ababa. The ministry said the measure was formally communicated to the Egyptian Embassy on 1 October 2026.

The Ethiopian statement said the action was taken under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the international treaty that sets rules for diplomatic conduct and relations between states. It did not provide a public explanation for the decision or describe any specific incident leading to the expulsion.

Persona non grata declarations are a standard diplomatic tool used by governments to remove foreign diplomats they no longer wish to host. In practice, the receiving state can require the person to depart within a set period, as Ethiopia has done here. The move comes against the backdrop of broader Ethiopia-Egypt relations, which in recent years have often drawn international attention because of regional diplomacy and disputes over Nile water issues, although those broader matters were not mentioned in the reported statement.