Hargeysa, June 2, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Council of Ministers endorsed an agreement signed by the Somaliland Ministry of Water & Minerals with an oil exploration company called Prime Resource Limited which was given a concession to explore for oil and gas in Block 26 of Hargeysa region, while at same time the $1 million US dollar bonus payment for the concession was waived last Monday by the government's council of ministers [cabinet].

The agreement was put forward by the president to the cabinet in last Monday’s meeting. 57 ministers voted for endorsing the agreement and the decision to waive the $1 million bonus fee, only one minister disagreed.

According to the Director General of the Ministry of Water & Minerals, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Suldan, his ministry signed the agreement on 6 October 2005 with a UK based company called Prime Resource Limited.

However, when the Director General (Mr. Suldan) was asked why the company was not charged the $1 million signature bonus fee, he said, `We didn't charge any kind of bonus fee to this company, because the chairman of the company is of Somaliland origin, and also the ministry has a number of relating interests with this company."

Mr. Suldan denied the many rumors circulating regarding the ownership of this company, which is said to belong to the president and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Hussein Ali Duale. Mr. Suldan stated that “the rumors are a baseless lie, and the company is chaired by a UK businessman of Somaliland origin, who goes by the name of Mohamed Yusuf, and we have faith in his company that it can do the job as we have agreed with the company".

Block 26 was the only Somaliland block that was not assigned to any foreign company during the Siyad Barre regime.

According to a reliable source on the Monday meeting of Somaliland's council of ministers, when the president proposed the agreement to be endorsed by the council of ministers, the president said, "I am submitting to you an agreement which the Ministry of Mineral and Water Resources signed with Prime Resource Limited, a company owned by a UK businessman of Somaliland origin, for this reason I believe that we should forfeit the usual bonus signature often charged by governments when awarding foreign companies oil and gas concession rights to explore for oil and gas in their countries". According to our source, one minister from Hargeysa Region opposed the president's request and said, "Mr. President, in all sincerity, I believe it would be prudent for the council (cabinet) to study in detail the agreement and to think twice about waiving the signature bonus fee, and we should discuss a lot more regarding this issue before we vote."

The president replied that, “it was a sound deal and there is no need to debate the issue."

Source: Somaliland Times