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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – The Saudi Minister
of Agriculture, Dr Fahd Balghonaim, strongly defended the Saudi
government’s decision to lift the ban on importing Somali livestock.
According to the Somali language newspaper Haatuf, Dr Balghonaim was
responding to an article in Riyadh newspaper which alleged that the
ministry of agriculture decision’s to lift the ban on Somali livestock
was done hastily and without sending technical experts to verify the
quality of the work done by the livestock health inspection facilities
at the ports of Berbera and Bosasso.
In his press conference, Dr Balghonaim said his ministry lifted the ban
on Somali livestock only after the OIE sent experts who evaluated the
livestock health inspection facilities at the ports of Berbera and
Bosasso, and after they released a report in which they made it clear
that the inspection facilities did meet the required standards.
Dr Balghonaim did concede that he initially received a letter from the
minister of commerce in Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
requesting Saudi Arabia not to deal with the port of Berbera but also
received a subsequent letter which withdrew that initial request.
The construction of Somaliland’s livestock inspection facility in
Berbera was financed by al-Jabiri, a Saudi businessman. In return, al-Jabiri
was given license by Somaliland government to export livestock to Saudi
Arabia.
Another Saudi businessman called Abu Yasir has also been trying to break
into Somaliland livestock market but his efforts were unsuccessful. Some
reports say that Abu Yasir is behind the article in al-Riyadh newspaper
as his way of getting back at Somaliland for not allowing him access to
Somaliland’s livestock market.
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