By: Yusuf M Hasan
MOGADISHU (Somalilandsun) – The offices of the speaker of the Somali parliament in Mogadishu shall be housed in a building dubbed Villa Hargeisa.
This follows the official opening of a new wing named Villa Hargeisa within Villa Somalia the Somalia Federal Government’s-SFG presidential palace in Mogadishu that will see the speaker Professor Jawari and the parliamentary standing committee he chairs operates next door to the embattled president Hasan Sheikh.
As he cut the tape to official open the new extension to Villa Somali President Hasan said that Villa Hargeisa marks a new direction in the relationship between the executive and the legislature.
The speaker Prof Jawari who was also present at the opening of the building said that Villa Hargeisa shall not only avail his standing committee a conducive working environment but help facilitate coordination with the executive as well.
While the SFG has a right to name its buildings whatever they wish the choice of Hargeisa which is the capital of Somaliland is in bad taste especially coming a few days before start of internationally sanctioned talks between the two neigbouring countries whose voluntary union of the 1960’s later turned fateful was dissolved in 1991 after a brutal civil war that saw forces loyal to then Somalia president ad dictator Gen Siad Barre massacre over 50,000 somalilanders.
The irony of the matter is the SFG which has maintained its stand that talks to be held in Turkey from the 15th of this month are solely about establishing guidelines for the reunification while Somaliland which is adamant that its sovereignty is irrevocable and thence not for negotiation says the talks are solely about honourable separation.
On the other hand the SFG which has requested several postponements of the talks is yet to name its negotiators while those of Somaliland are already in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia en-route to the Turkish city of Ankara where the talks are expected to take place.
