By: Latifa Yusuf Masai
JUBA (Somalilandsun) – Two Landers are stranded in Addis Ababa after they were driven out of south Sudan.
Citizens of Somaliland residing in South Sudan-SS are worried about their legal status in the country after authorities deported two of their lot for being in possession of a Somaliland passport which has been until now a valid travel document.
This was revealed to the Horn newspaper by Mr. Kowdan (not his real name) a Lander resident of Juba the SS capital city from where he informed that Mr. Ismail Tarbiyo who on arrival at Juba airport from Hargeisa encountered the deportation misfortune for the simple reason of enquiring directions to the office of the Somaliland diplomatic mission in that country.
Mr. Tarbiyo who was immediately arrested met another Lander Mr. Ahmed Ali at the police station of confinement where the two spent a couple of days before immigration officials deported them out of the country via an Ethiopian airways plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It is not yet clear about the current whereabouts of the two deportees as well as their legal status of stay in Ethiopia where they must be utilizing the Somaliland passport whose previous validity seems to have been revoked by South Sudanese.
The irony of this new development emanates from the fact that it is only in south Sudan where the flag of the unrecognized Somaliland flies, PROUDLY, since the country become independent a year ago.
During the independence ceremony Somaliland authorities whom the country attended after official invitation from the SS government of Silva Kiir who ensured that President Silanyo shared the podium, EQUALLY, with the other many heads of state and governments participating.
After SS became the newest independent country in Africa speculation was high that Somaliland shall flow suit after imminent sovereignty recognition thus become a fully fledge member of African Union and the United Nations.
This optimism was as not only as a result of the high profile given to SL issues by the international community, plus the visibility and jostling with other invitees in juba by the large SL delegation that included representation from government, legislature, political leadership as well as the media but as per the acceptance of an official representation by president Silva Kiir whose chief foreign advisor is the former Somaliland foreign minister Mr. Abdilahi Mohamed Duale.
The imminent divorce in the marriage of convenience between these two countries that is about to happen after a year long and sweet honeymoon is entirely the responsibility of the Authorities in Hargeisa who failed to capitalize by not reciprocating the embrace from president Silva Kiir .
After returning from the SS independence celebrations president Silanyo appointed an envoy to represent him/SL in Juba but to date the foreign mission there is inactive since the appointee is still roaming the streets of the capital Hargeisa while central coffers show expenditure for the mission.
The administration’s ineptitude can also be discerned by the failure to act upon machinations by the Somalia envoy to SS whose first mission upon submitting credentials to president Silva Kiir was to demand the removal of the Somaliland flag from its only one place it flew PROUDLY in a foreign country.
After all is said and done, the fact remains that two Landers are stranded in Addis Ababa, many others are fearful of their legal status in SS while our flag is down and the mission is operated by remote control from Hargeisa
