“We Will Not Negotiate On Independence,” Somaliland Parliament Speaker

Abdirahman M. Abdillahi, Speaker of House of Representatives of Somaliland

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 6, 2007 – “Considering the magnitude of the problem in Somalia neither the recently deployed Ugandan African Union peacekeeping forces nor the Ethiopian troops can solve the problem of Somalia”, Abdirahman M. Abdillahi, Speaker of House of Representatives of Somaliland told SSI.

“Ceasefire and negotiations from the indigenous people of Mogadishu and entire Somalia and the government and the people of Somalia can only solve the problem,” the speaker said. He added that his administrations will not in any way abandon the idea of recognition and negotiate on the independence campaign, “No politician has the authority to give a decision on this point it is the right of the Somaliland people for self determination.”

In an exclusive interview with SSI the speaker said that dialogue between the Somalis is the only way out of destruction. Concerning the recent severe fighting in Mogadishu and reports that many Somalis have fled to Somaliland the speaker said “We want peace to come to the whole Somalia they are our neighbors.”

Abdillahi said that a strong government in the south will not be a threat for the future independence of the republic of Somaliland. “We felt that the international community work to bring peace in Somalia. We are sorry for the destruction that is especially affecting the civilians. We feel sorry for the refugees many of the Somalis from Somalia are arriving in Hargeisa and we will welcome them and give them refuge”, he said.

The speaker who is touring three eastern African countries Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda said that his parliamentary delegate is trying to start a working relation with African parliaments “We see this as a great opportunity for us we met the spokesperson .We established a parliamentary friendship committee with the Ethiopian parliament and we will expect same results in Kenya and Uganda.”

In the first official parliamentary visit the parliamentary delegates which held talks with the Ethiopian president Girma Woldegiorgis and speaker of the house of People’s Representatives of Ethiopia ambassador Teshome Toga will finish its tour in Uganda after three weeks.

“The talk with the Ethiopian president touched everything discussing many issues of mutual interest political security economic trade and people to people relationships. Our mission is to start working relations with other parliaments and as we are in a campaign for recognition of Somaliland it is a great opportunity to meet other high government officials in the three countries to discuss the case.”

Regarding the fact finding committee of the African Union sent to Somalia in 2005 he said, “Some African Union members are working on that I don’t want to mention names but a good number of countries are pushing forward for the agenda.”

He said that lack of information is the major problem that many African countries are not pushing for Somaliland’s independence. “Most of the African countries don’t have enough information about Somalia and Somaliland I think they need more information and more campaigning.”

The speaker who refrained to give details about the Ethio-Somaliland security relationships said that “I cannot confirm anything .We have a long border with Ethiopia more than a thousand kilometers .We are working closely for our mutual security in the border.”

In a related development it was learnt that the Somaliland Parliamentary delegation held a panel discussion on seminal and timely issues with University College students at the premise of the New Generation University College. Leaders of opposition political parties were among the panelists and unanimously reiterated their determination to independence of the nascent Somaliland Republic. They said it would be possible in the near future to envisage a Greater Horn of Africa Federation with the coming up of independent entities like Ethiopia, Somaliland, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea. They further expressed their doubt as to whether the Transitional Government of Somalia could bring peace and stability to its people.

A number of students from Ethiopia, Somalia and Somaliland were in attendance of the panel.

Source: The Sub-Saharan Informer

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