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Durham, UK, April 4, 2009 (SL Times) – The
Somaliland minister of Foreign of Affairs, Mr Abdillahi Mohamed Duale,
addressed on Thursday an international gathering of government
officials, diplomats, business people and academics taking part in the
‘State of Sovereignty’ conference held at the prestigious International
Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) of Durham University in the city of
Durham, United Kingdom.
The 3-day international IBRU conference brought together a diverse group
of delegates and speakers from over 53 countries. The conference was
designed to address the practical implications of boundary making,
boundary management and dispute resolution, which officially opened
Wednesday 1st April 2009
Somaliland’s Foreign minister, Mr Duale, on day two of the conference,
gave a two-hour long presentation which ended with a Q&A session. The
minister described the history of the State of Somaliland and how, since
his country’s independence in 1991, Somaliland has moved forward as an
independent and sovereign country to create a stable democratic society
in a region afflicted with instability, wars and conflict.
The minister’s paper titled “A Sovereign State for Somaliland & What it
means for the Horn of Africa” illustrated that ‘Somaliland has fulfilled
all the standard criteria for the establishment of a sovereign state and
international recognition’ and argued that ‘with the attainment of
sovereignty Somaliland could accelerate its development and help to add
stability to the region.’
Following his presentation, the Foreign Minister speaking to conference
journalists covering the 3-day event said, the conference provided him
and his delegation the ideal opportunity to meet and hold discussions
with a wide range of fellow participants including those from the
African Union, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, US State Department
plus numerous international experts in the field of international
boundary disputes and sovereignty issues.
“I’m very much grateful and pleased to have taken part in this important
forum and be given the opportunity to explain our side of events.
Definitely, its been very beneficial for my country to get to know so
many foreign government departments, their officials and delegates at
this conference, which I believe, will certainly assist us in our
ultimate goal of achieving sovereignty status,” said, Mr Abdillahi
Mohamed Duale, the Somaliland minister of Foreign Affairs.
Conference organisers, IBRU said, they invited Somaliland’s Foreign
Minister to speak at the conference as his country’s long pursuit for
sovereignty provided an ideal, real – world example of the difficulties
facing certain states during their quest for sovereignty status and
world recognition.
The ‘State of Sovereignty’ conference is celebrating the 20th
anniversary of boundary studies at IBRU, a department of Durham
University. The conference ends on Friday, 3rd April 2009.
Source: Somaliland Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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