“The regional government in Hargeisa shall receive a portion of the earnings- President Hassan
“Not in our lifetime” Somaliland Minister of fisheries
By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The new administration in Mogadishu has finally revealed its true face as pertains to Somaliland.
The Somali federal Government has laid claim to the Berbera port in Somaliland which it claims as one of that country’s major ports together with those in Mogadishu, Kismayo and Bosaso.
In an interview with the Somali state TV channel in Istanbul recently the Somali president Hasan Sheikh Mahmud informed that his administration is in advanced stages of consolidating public sources of finances especially those from the ports.
“The country has four main ports, namely Mogadishu, Kismayo, Berbera and Bosaso which we intend to take-over soonest” said the president.
While revealing that his administration is currently in charge of the Port in Mogadishu, President Hasan informed that the next phase of consolidating public finances includes taking charge of the just liberated port of Kismayo that has been the bastion of economy for the Al-Shabaab militant group.
He further revealed that once the Kismayo port is in full control of his administration the next step shall be to seize control of Bosaso and Berbera ports in Puntland and Somaliland respectively.
Said he, “Once we seize full control of all the four ports the federal government in Mogadishu shall apporti
on regional governments a minor share of the earnings’.
In Hargeisa the government has termed this claim as not only absurd bit one that is geared towards infringing upon the sovereignty of Somaliland.
The minister of Fisheries and marine resources Hon Abdilahi Osman ‘Geel-jire’ said that the insinuations to the ownership of Berbera port by Somalia is something that will never happen as long a single Somalilander is living.
“We hope the Somali government shall assume control of its ports in Kismayo and Bosaso and consolidate their public sources of finances but as for Berbera that is a pipe dream never to be achieved” said Geeljire.
The claims by the Somali president turns a new leaf in the relationship between the two neighbouring countries that we united in a fateful union that was dissolved in 1991 after a decade long bloody civil war.
Since their divorce 21 years ago the two countries entered into talks that were as a result of the London and Istanbul II conferences on Somalia held earlier in the year.
Though the talks are in limbo following the end of the transitional federal government’s mandate, the new administration of president Hasan has been talking about resumptions with expectations of successful dialogue but his current claims show otherwise.
At the same time underground activities by some members of his administration and parliamentarians towards the destruction of Somaliland’s’ nationhood leave a sour taste and repugnant smell.
Just the other day the Somali prime minister Abdi Farah Saeed dispatched a plane load of an assortment of military ordinance to Taleeh district in Sool region of Somaliland where a group fronted by Ali Khalif Galayd, a Somali MP, have proclaimed a state dubbed Khatumo.
The claims to Berbera port and the terming of Somaliland as a regional administration of the Somali federal government is a clear signal that the so called meek president of Somalia has started beating the war drums which if left unchecked might reverse the prevailing security situation in the horn of Africa.
With ongoing activities from Mogadishu Somaliland needs to change track thus stop the quest for recognition and start championing reparation as pertains to damage inflicted by the Somali government and division of public properties accrued during the two decades of union. This should be done after careful peruse of the system that made a similar separation in former Czechoslovakia thus the peaceful birth of two entities of CHEZCH and SLOVAKIA
For those readers who understand Somali, listen to the full Hasan interview below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggKuUT7Nt2c&feature=player_embedded
