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ABU DHABI, 13 April 2004 (ANN) — The leader of Puntland, Abdillahi Yussuf, who left the UAE Monday evening for London was denied entry to the UK and returned to the UAE.
ANN learnt from informed sources in the UAE that Yusuf who was rushed to the UAE early this week for medical treatment is now in Sharjah.
Meanwhile, Yusuf blasted Britain for committing an act of enmity against the Somali people by receiving Somaliland President who recently paid a visit to UK and addressed members of the British parliament.
Talking to the UAE official daily Al Ittihad on Monday from Sharjah, Yusuf said the British government’s receiving of Somaliland President and its acceptance to open a British representative office in Somaliland as well as allowing Somaliland to open a representative office in London was tantamount to recognition of the breakaway state, warning Britain that such action would make it an enemy of the Somali people.
Yusuf, whom the paper described as the first man to take arms against Siyad Barre’s regime, said that the Somali people would not allow any violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and would not accept the creation of separatist cantons.
He affirmed Puntland’s persistence on the unity of Somalia and the establishment of a federal system of government where every region would be free to run its own affairs without harming the unity and sovereignty of the country.
On the Puntland-Somaliland dispute over Sool and Sanag regions, Yusuf said that the two regions historically belong to Puntland and called for the holding of a referendum in the disputed area in order to avoid armed confrontation, destruction and bloodshed.
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