By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The shooting of police officers by Ethiopian border guards at Wajale was an accident.
This was informed by the Ethiopian Ambassador to Somaliland General Berhe Tesfaye during a meeting with Vice president Hon Abdirahman Sayli at the presidency in Hargeisa.
On Saturday Ethiopian Boarder guards who shot at a Somaliland police vehicle thus grievously injuring two of the three officers on-board.
The police officers who had mistakenly strayed into Ethiopia while in pursuit of suspected smugglers were themselves shot at after being suspected smugglers by the Ethiopian security officers.
While terming the incidence as unfortunate Ambassador Tesfaye told VP Sayli that intensified anti-smuggling surveillance by both countries need to be coordinated thus deter similar incidences in the future.
During the
fatal shooting on the outskirts of the Ethiopia-Somaliland border town of Wajale police officers Hussein Dahir and Abdirashid Mohamed Mahmoud sustained bullet inflicted injuries on the knee and thigh respectively.
While this is the first incidence of its nature to ensue between the two neighbouring countries security forces, cross border smuggling of illicit drugs and Human cargo from Ethiopia to Somaliland is on the rise.
Almost every week the police force is reporting arrest of drugs smugglers and their illicit cargos prompting some media houses to speculate on the possibility of involvement by Hargeisa based Ethiopian Embassy personnel, a fortnight ago.
This accusation was vehemently refuted by Gen Tesfaye who upon informing that they were in the country to enhance bi-lateral relations asked the government to investigate the issue which the Ambassador claimed was as a result of propaganda by enemies of the two countries.
The meeting at the presidency was the first for Acting President Abdirahman Sayli to meet representative of a foreign country.
VP Sayli is currently acting president since his boss President Silanyo is out of the country on an official state visit to the United Kingdom.
