By: Osman A.M.
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The Government has cleared the air over Somalia Federal Government’s intervention in withdrawing National Defense Forces (NDF) from Taleh town in Sool region.
It has now been established that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia reached out to his Somaliland counterpart President Silanyo via telephone conversation where the former convinced the later to pull back his forces out of Taleh following alarms raised by the leadership of Somalia’s regional administration of Puntland.
These & similar diplomatic uproars were revelations made by Foreign Affairs & International Co-operation Minister Mohamed Bihi Yonis that also dwell on his encounter with Abdiweli Gas while in company of Interior Minister Ali Mohamed Waran’ade when the two cabinet were attending the Tana Summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis-Ababa .
The confirmation of Foreign Minister Bihi on the existence of presidential telephone conversations corroborates similar revelations by Somalia’s President Hassan Mohamud when he busted out that he indeed pleaded with his counterpart from Somaliland to retreat his forces from Taleh town after the troops’ initial occupation days earlier.
Bihi rubbished Puntland’s minister who recently informed ‘that no meeting took place between Abdiweli & authorities from Hargeisa over Taleh’ insisting that he was kept on the dark & could not be privy to every matter attended by his leader.
Bihi disclosed that diplomatic team from England inquired his Government meeting with Puntland’s leadership in addition to Silanyo’s response to Hassan over the jurisdiction of Taleh town.
In maintaining innocence on Puntland’s Minister who asserted that no meeting transpired between authorities in Hargeisa & Abdiweli, Bihi noted, “The President of regional administration of Puntland condoned violence over Taleh while at the same time preaching good neighborliness principles in additional to creating avenues for dialogue in case of misunderstanding between his region & Somaliland”
When asked on his knowledge of telephone conversation between his head of state & President Hassan Mohamoud, Foreign Minister stated that Waran ‘ade and he were with President Silanyo when Somalia’s leader made the call in which he remembers Silanyo avowing to his ground that Taleh is within the borders of Somaliland & none can question his visit to the larger Sool region while equally daring Khatumoists from abstaining organizing their affairs from Taleh.
