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Story was Posted to the web Feb 07 2005 07:52
Somaliland will not cooperate
with "Warlord" Yusuf
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Feb 07 2004
The president of Somaliland has raised the
stakes in the war-scarred Horn of Africa,
saying he would not cooperate with long-term
foe, new Somalia President Abdullahi Yusuf.
Somaliland, an enclave on the Gulf of Aden,
declared independence from anarchic Somalia in
1991 and has since enjoyed relative peace but
is unrecognised internationally. |
"We're a government functioning with a
democratically elected president. How can we
deal with a warlord who is not elected by his
own people?" Somaliland President Dahir Rayale
Kahin told Reuters in an interview late on
Thursday.
"I won't deal with him. When he becomes
president of Somalia, like me elected by his own
people, maybe we can talk."
Yusuf was elected on October 10 as head of
Somalia's government by delegates attending a
national conference held in Nairobi.
In late October the enclave urged Yusuf, former
leader of Somalia's Puntland territory, to
withdraw members of his clan from near its
border, accusing him of attacking Somaliland
even after his election as Somali president.
Yusuf's aides say Somaliland started the
fighting, which has now abated.
Somaliland has fought sporadic clashes with
Puntland for years over the ownership of eastern
areas of Somaliland which Puntland's leaders
claim as their own on the basis of ethnicity.
Hoping to turn a new page, Yusuf has pledged to
work peacefully with Somaliland as he tries to
restore order to Somalia, which descended into
anarchy in 1991 following the ousting of
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
He has vowed to bring stability to Somalia
within one year.
Kahin said anarchy in Somalia would doom to
failure the 14th attempt at creating an
effective central administration.
"I don't see it as a government, it's a dream of
a government that they have, it's not a
practical government. It's an exile government
that doesn't exist. Somalia doesn't exist. There
is chaos and anarchy," he said.
Diplomats say the re-establishment of the
government in Somalia is a key condition for
foreign donor funding for its attempts to
rebuild an effective national administration.
Its leadership is due to return to the country
after a team of lawmakers flew in to Somalia's
capital Mogadishu this week to prepare for
Yusuf's arrival, but no date has been set.
"NO REUNIFICATION"
Mohamud Abdullahi Jama, information minister and
deputy prime minister in Yusuf's Transitional
Federal Government (TFG), said the Somaliland
authorities had consistently refused to take
part in the peace talks that resulted in Yusuf's
election.
Nevertheless representatives of Somaliland's
clans were members of the TFG's parliament, and
once the government was successfully established
back in Somalia "hopefully we will come to some
understanding" with Somaliland, he said.
Kahin, in South Africa to drum up support for
international recognition of his territory, said
Somaliland would fight off any attempts of
reunification.
"We will have only brotherly neighbourhood, no
chance of reunification," Kahin said. "The
people of Somaliland have made their decision
not to go again into union with Somalia through
a referendum and I cannot change the will of the
people."
Kahin spoke after his officials gave a
presentation entitled "Africa's Secret Success
Story" at a Johannesburg gathering.
"I have come to indicate to the South African
government and its people our case for
recognition. We have said many times African
countries should take the lead in this," he
said.
Somaliland, a region of 3.5 to 4.5 million
people, won independence from Britain in 1960
and formed a united republic with ex-Italian
Somalia. An uprising against Barre was followed
by years of devastation as he turned his forces
against the northwestern enclave. When Barre
fled, Somaliland split away.
Story
Posted By
M Ghalib Musa
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