Lord Avebury Letter About Puntland‏

From Lord Avebury

020-7274 4617

ericavebury@gmail.com

ericavebury.blogspot.com

January 24, 2009

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your letter of January 19, following the brief discussion at question time of Somalia on January 14.

I note that contrary to public statements, there is no sign as yet of the Ethiopians completing their withdrawal, and I wonder if they have given any indication of the timetable?

Meanwhile, I was sorry to learn that the UN isn’t involved in the dispute between Somaliland and Puntland. The election in Puntland is also an internal matter, yet a UN delegation led by Mark Bowden, the UN's Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, visited Garowe the day before yesterday and discussed cooperation with President Farole in the fields of security, social services and development projects, also internal matters. Could you please let me know why the UN, and Mr Bowden in particular, was not asked to remonstrate with the Puntland authorities over their spurious claim to territory which has always been part of Somaliland?  

Surely it would be a tragedy if Puntland and Somaliland came to blows again, when they are the only territories that have avoided internal conflict – though Somaliland in particular has suffered from recent terrorist atrocities?

If and when Ethiopia does withdraw its forces from Somalia, al-Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu are surely going to intensify, and the Islamists are likely to gain control of the whole of Somalia, possibly apart from Somaliland and Puntland. Are we and the UN really going to sit back and wait for this to happen?

The Rt Hon the Lord Malloch-Brown KCMG,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office,

London SW1A 2AH.

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