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Hargeysa, Somaliland Feb 14, 2009 – The vice
president of Somaliland has told a Monday press conference that his
comments on Somali unity were misunderstood.
Mr. Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, Somaliland's vice president, told the press
conference in Hargeysa that his comments were directed to new Somali
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as a "warning" not to interfere with
Somaliland affairs.
His press conference was in response to news reports and commentary
widely published in local press, following a luncheon for Diaspora
supporters of the ruling UDUB party where VP Yasin commented on Islamist
politician Sheikh Sharif's ascendancy to the Somali presidency.
"I have a feeling that we can relate to the administration that [now]
took control of the South [regions of Somalia]," Somaliland's vice
president had told the UDUB luncheon on Feb. 8 at Hotel Crown in
Hargeysa, noting that Sheikh Sharif is "not a politician from the
1960s."
He further went on to say: "Definitely, Somalis cannot be divided and no
one is closing a border…The public has been misinformed about soldiers
closing the borders. The people [Somalis] are all the same."
Somaliland VP Yasin briefly described a re-invented Somalia "like
Europe, where people know what they own and everyone moves around
freely."
Insiders say political pressure mounted on Somaliland's vice president
to quickly reconsider his earlier comments, which were translated by
local media as pro-unity with Somalia.
Source: Agencies
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