By Hassan Istiila,

Mogadishu, Somalia: The lower house of Somalia’s parliament voted Monday to ban a United Arab Emirates’ state-owned ports operator from the African country, declaring it a threat to Somalia’s sovereignty, independence, and unity.

A crushing majority of 168 lawmakers in the 170-seat parliament rejected all agreements signed with DP World to operate the ports of Berbera and Bosaso.

Earlier in March, DP World signed a deal with Ethiopia and Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland for the operating rights to Berbera.

According to the Dubai-based firm, the deal would give the Ethiopian government a 19 percent stake in the port of Berbera while DP World would retain a 51 percent stake and Somaliland would get 30 percent.

In April 2017, DP World signed a deal with the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland to develop and operate the port of Bosaso.

—AA