Hargeysa, January 28, 2008 – The spokesman of the presidential palace of the Republic of Somaliland, Si'id Adane Moge, today strongly responded to a statement made by the president elected in Mbagathi [the venue of the Somali peace process in Kenya in 2004], Abdillahi Yusuf, in which he provoked the Republic of Somaliland.

The spokesman said that his statement is a response to an interview issued by the Mbagathi President Abdillahi Yusuf to the VOA's Somali Service and to [Qatar-based] Al-Jazeera TV in which he threatened to invade Somaliland if it does not withdraw its troops from Sool Region [northern Somalia, disputed by Somaliland and Puntland]. In his interview, President Yusuf also said that Somaliland was part of Somalia.

The spokesman said in the press release that it was not the first time Abdillahi Yusuf declared to attack Somaliland. He did the same in previous times by saying that the issue of Sool Region was between Somaliland and his Mbagathi constituted government.

The spokesman said that Somaliland, with the help of both its government and people, is ready to defend its territory. The spokesman further said Somaliland will not invade anyone and will act within its territorial borders.

Source: BBC Monitoring