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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, June 27, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland government declined to
attend a congressional hearing on Somalia that was scheduled for June
25th. Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, Abdillahi Duale, was initially
included in the list of the people who were supposed to brief the
hearing but his name was removed from the list after his government
declined to take part in the hearing.
The fact that Somaliland did not even bother to send to the hearing its
representative in Washington, Dr Sad Nur, or even a low-ranking
representative from the ministry of foreign affairs, shows the
seriousness of Somaliland’s reservations about the purpose of the
hearing and some of the participants.
Given the fact that the primary aim of the hearing was to explore how to
save the powerless government of Somalia, the decision to boycott it was
basically correct and most Somalilanders agree with it.
The hearing was chaired by Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), a man
with very little knowledge of Somali affairs who often acts as the
spokesman of Somalia’s nominal government.
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