By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGESA (Somalilandsun) – The government of Somaliland has submitted an official letter of apologies to authorities in Addis Ababa for the arrest and subsequent brutal treatment of two Ethiopian officials in Gabile town.
This was informed by the minister of foreign affairs Mohamed Bihi Younis during a press briefing in Hargeisa where he informed that the apology was submitted to the relevant Ethiopian government authorities as necessitated by nothing else apart from facts of improper diplomatic conduct b local Somaliland officials.
The issue that forced the Hargeisa authorizes to act contrite towards neighbouring country is as a result of the arrest of intelligence & plain clothes police officers from Ethiopia at Kalabayd center some few kilometers from the border town of Togwajale.
This incident and subsequent ongoing confinement of those arrested prompted a diplomatic roar from Ethiopia with authorities in Addis Ababa accusing Hargeisa of acting contrary to internationally recognized norms and etiquettes of handling foreigners from foreign countries with Diplomatic immunities.
Both countries are not only close allies, but indeed share a long common history of socio-economic, cultural, political and security relations thence the queasiness of the incident that has ensued with the questioning of the Gabile regional Governor & the Mayor of the town as pertains to establishing the activities of the Ethiopians before their arrest.
FM Bihi Younis who informed that he was accompanied by the Somaliland representative in Ethiopian while submitting the official letter of regret expression for the incident also revealed that the officers from Gabile involved with the arrest shall be dealt according to the laws of the land.
The Vice president Abdirahman Abdilahi Sayli who also issued a public apology to the aggrieved neighbouring country at the Egal international airport before he left the country yesterday to link up with other top ranking security officials in Addis Ababa led by interior minister Mohamed Waran’ade who had been dispatched earlier to soothe nerves of the seething Ethiopians .
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