PRESS RELEASE

London, UK, November 06, 2006 – The future of Somaliland was put firmly on the agenda of the UK Parliament last week during the visit of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives.

The Chair of the new All-Party Group for Somaliland, Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, welcomed the Somaliland Speaker Rt Hon Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi and the First Deputy Speaker Rt Hon Abdi-Aziz Mohamed Samaleh accompanied by Mr. Osman Ahmed Hassan, Head of Somaliland Mission (UK) and Mr. Abdikarim Abdi Adan, Somaliland Mission (UK) to a special meeting arranged to hear about developments in Somaliland. After an address by Mr Abdillahi, the meeting also heard from Lord Anderson of Swansea, who a day earlier had returned from a visit to Somaliland with a team from the European Parliament. Also present were the group's secretary Kerry McCarthy MP, and the Group's vice-chairs Lord Avebury and Baroness Whitaker.

The meeting was told that the Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman has agreed to meet representatives of the Group and ideas were discussed for helping to strengthen and develop the Somaliland Parliament's capacity for legislative and committee work.

Earlier in the week Alun Michael chaired a meeting between the Speaker and representatives of the Foreign Policy Centre in London to discuss future research into Somaliland and ways of educating the British public on issues relating to Somaliland. This follows up a meeting held by the Centre at the House of Commons in July to discuss Somali issues, at which both Alun Michael and Kerry McCarthy spoke.

Alun Michael, who is the MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, has worked hard for many years to bring Somaliland to the attention of the UK Government and public. He told us that the engagement of both MPs and Peers in the new All-Party Group and the engagement of the European Parliament was good news for Somaliland which has achieved a remarkable degree of stability over the past 15 years.

(From the right), Osman Ahmed, Somaliland UK office representative, Speaker of Somaliland House of Representatives Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi “Erro”, Ms Kerry McCarthy MP, Secretary, UK Parliament All Party Group for Somaliland, Allun Michael MP, Chairman All Party Group and Abdul-Aziz Samale, 1st Deputy Speaker, Somaliland House of Representatives shortly after holding a meeting at the House of Commons, London.