Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 30, 2012 – The presidents of Somalia and of Somaliland met in Dubai yesterday for the second stage of Somaliland-Somalia talks. After their meeting, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Sillanyo issued a statement which noted that the meeting had been hosted by the Government of the United Arab Emirates at the request of the two sides.

The purpose was for the two presidents to formally endorse the process of talks between the two sides which had been started at Chevening House outside London June 20^th-21^st.  The fourth point of the Dubai Statement added that “Both parties agreed to the continuation of this dialogue, and agreed to allow the two committees, formed by the presidents, to continue the talks in order to clarify the relationship between the two sides.”  

Their meeting followed the two-day meeting between delegations from Somalia and Somaliland held at Chevening House outside London and hosted by Britain, Norway and the European Union. After the discussions, a Chevening Declaration was issued on June 21^st. This agreed that talks would take place between the TFG (or its replacement after August 20^th) and Somaliland, in accordance with paragraph 6 of the London Conference Communiqué and paragraph 10 of the Istanbul II Conference Communiqué. It noted the need to adopt a common approach to avoid anything that would undermine the continuation of the talks and called on the two presidents to meet to review progress as soon as possible. The declaration also called on the international community to continue to facilitate discussions, and provide the two sides with external experts on legal, economic and security matters as required. The two sides agreed to share experiences on working more effectively with the international community on the use of development and humanitarian assistance for the people of both sides and called for the international community to increase that assistance. They agreed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, extremism and serious crimes and in the fight against piracy at sea and on land, maritime crime, illegal fishing and toxic dumping. They reiterated their support for the ending the Transition in Somalia.

The talks at Chevening were the first time the two parties had talked to each other since Somaliland declared its independence in 1991. They were nearly cancelled before they started when Somalia added two individuals from Puntland’s government to its delegation. The talks were only able to proceed after the two individuals had been dropped from the delegation. The issue has been controversial in Somaliland with many, particularly in opposition parties, arguing against any contacts with the Government of Somalia unless it first recognized Somaliland’s independence. Despite the wide gap that still separates the basic position of the two sides the discussions at Chevening did find a number of points on which most people on both sides could agree.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia

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