Hargeysa, February 9, 2008 (SL. Times) - Somaliland government officials and security personnel obstructed reporters belonging to the independent local press from gaining access to the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Ms Jendayi Frazer, when she visited Somaliland’s capital city Hargeysa, last Sunday.

Jendayi Frazer arrived at Egal Airport in Hargeysa around 10 o’clock in the morning.

Only the two local correspondents for the BBC’s Somali Service and Reuters were allowed into the airport’s VIP room to interview Frazer, the highest-ranking American official to visit Somaliland since it declared independence and withdrew from the 1960 union with Somalia 17 years ago.

From the airport Jendayi Frazer was whisked to the nearby Ambassador hotel, where an advance team of armed Americans was stationed one day earlier to provide extra security protection for the visiting US government official.

Journalists from the independent print and broadcasting media swarmed around the main entrance to the hotel’s reception floor after they had been held back by senior local security officers.

To the great disappointment of the independent press, a correspondent for the national television, an outlet that in effect operates as a propaganda tool for the government, was able to slip through and interview Ms Frazer while the latter was about to have a working luncheon in one of the hotel’s restaurants with Somaliland President Dahir Rayale.

The top US diplomat for Africa was accompanied during her 4 hour visit to Hargeysa by the American government’s special envoy for Somalia, John Yates.

Apart from her discussions with President Rayale, she also met with opposition leaders including the chairman of KULMIYE party chairman Ahmed Silanyo and representatives of the Qaran political group.

In a statement to the government-controlled broadcasting media, Frazer said, that the message she would be taking back to America would be that Somaliland is not only peaceful and stable but also a place that can provide American investors with potential business opportunities given Somaliland’s adherence to the principles of free market economy.

Source: Somaliland Times