Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 23, 2012 (SL Times) – The Following is an excerpt from a weekly report by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday June 23, 2012

On Wednesday, the first ever face-to-face dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the self-proclaimed Government of Somaliland opened at Chevening House, a UK Foreign Office center outside London. The five person Somalia negotiating team was headed by Interior and National Security Minister, Abdisamad Mo'alin Mohamed, and included the TFG’s Ambassador to Djibouti, Abdi Hussein Gulwade, the Minister of Education and Culture, Ahmed Aideed Ibrahim as well as two MPs, Hussein Hassan and Mohamed Hassan Adan. Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Mohamed Abdullahi Omar, led Somaliland’s team which also included the Ministers of the Presidency and of Labor and Social Affairs, Hirsi Ali and Mahmoud Ahmed Barre, the leader of the opposition UCID, Feisal Ali Warabe, and the 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bashe Mohamed Farah. Somaliland originally pulled out of the talks a month earlier after Somalia’s President, Sheikh Sharif, appointed two ministers from Puntland as part of Somalia’s delegation. After Somaliland protests, the makeup of the delegation was changed. Puntland has laid claim to large parts of the regions of Sol and Sanaag within Somaliland.

The agreement to hold the talks was reached at the London Conference on Somalia held in February. The final communiqué of the conference called on the two sides to hold formal talks to clarify their future relations. Britain, Norway and the European Union have all made it clear they would like to see the two sides negotiate a settlement.

Both sides detailed their positions in advance of the meeting. The TFG claimed it was entering the talks to establish parameters for the reunification of two formerly united areas of Somalia, while before leaving Hargeysa for London, Dr. Omar assured the media that Somaliland would not renounce its bid for independence. "We should maintain our dignity as an independent nation, deserving of international respect. Our sovereignty is non-negotiable," Dr Omar said.

Dr. Omar also wrote to Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, copying his letter to Baroness Ashton, the EU High Representative, and to Jonas Gahr Støre, Foreign Minister of Norway. The letter noted that in 2001 “following a referendum which received the overwhelming support of the people of Somaliland, our country adopted a new constitution, which reaffirmed that the national territory of the independent Republic of Somaliland is identical to that of the Somaliland Protectorate, to which Britain granted independence in June 1960. Subsequent elections, which were deemed free and fair by international monitors, have elected governments firmly committed to this”.

Dr. Omar continued: It is therefore “unacceptable to Somaliland that the new draft Somalia constitution might purport to lay claim to our country. Somaliland emphatically rejects any such claim on our national territory.” Nevertheless, he added that Somaliland is very willing to hold constructive discussions with the TFG or its successor to clarify future relations or talk about such issues as the fight against terrorism, piracy and jihadism. And he adds: “We ask that the international community now accept the reality that Somaliland is independent, and that promoting a dialogue between two sovereign entities in Hargeysa and Mogadishu will only aid our shared objective of securing a peaceful, stable Horn of Africa.”

The talks concluded on Thursday with agreement on an 8-point plan. A joint statement said the two sides had agreed to hold further talks and that these would take place “in accordance with paragraph 6 of the London Conference Communiqué and paragraph 10 of the Istanbul II Conference Communiqué". The statement underlined the need “to adopt a common approach to avoid anything that would undermine the continuation of the talks”. It called for the President Sheikh Sharif of Somalia and President Ahmed Sillanyo of Somaliland to meet to review progress as soon as possible; and it has been suggested that this could happen within the next week in Dubai. The two sides asked for the international community to facilitate such talks and called on it to provide external experts on legal, economic and security matters which will need to be addressed in clarifying any future relationship between Somalia and Somaliland. The two sides "agreed to share experiences” on working more effectively with the international community on the use of development aid and in the provision of humanitarian assistance for the people of both sides and they called for the international community to increase that assistance. They agreed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, extremism and serious crimes; and to work together on "the fight against piracy at sea and on land, maritime crime, illegal fishing and toxic dumping". They also reiterated their support for ending the Transition in Somalia successfully.

Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Mohamed Abdillahi Omar described the two day meeting as constructive as it had created a framework for future talks on issues that mattered to both sides. Somali’s Interior Minister, Abdisamad Mo’alim Mohamed, also noted that the agreements to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, piracy, illegal fishing, and the dumping toxic wastes and to avoid anything that would undermine discussions were constructive. Britain, Norway and the European Union who jointly organized the meeting said the aim was to support the two sides to “establish a framework for future substantive talks”. They urged both sides to continue work to fulfill the pledges made during the London and Istanbul II conferences and at this week’s Chevening House Declaration.

Original Source

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