Irinnews.org: Somalia and Somaliland restart dialogue

From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de_at_dehai.org>
Date: Sat, 14 May 2016 00:18:42 +0200

Somalia and Somaliland restart dialogue

President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud By Mohamed Amin Jibril
HARGEYSA, 13 May 2016
Somalia has made a $1 million donation to the drought-hit breakaway northwestern region of Somaliland, ahead of controversial talks between the two sides later this month to clarify their future relations.
 
Mogadishu, far from one of the world’s flushest governments, has been quick to point out the donation was not designed to influence the talks in Turkey due on 31 May.
 
It is “not meant to gain any political sympathies, but it is brotherly responsibility to help each other in these difficult times,” said Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mohamed Omar Arteh.
 
Northern Somalia is facing an El Nino-related disaster. Nearly 1.7 million people out of a population of 4.6 million in Somaliland and Puntland need some form of humanitarian assistance, according to OCHA, the UN's office for humanitarian coordination.
 
In some areas the drought has destroyed 60 to 80 percent of cattle, in a region where families depend on livestock for income, food and status.OCHA has appealed for $105 million to help tackle the crisis.
 
Relations between Somalia and the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland have historically been extremely sensitive.
 
The international community does not recognize Somaliland, and Somalia’s goal has always been reunification - although it does accept the northwestern territory as an autonomous region.
Somaliland has had something of a raw deal. Its rebellion in the late 1980s was answered with merciless bombing by former Somali president Siad Barre.
 
When he fell in 1991 and Somalia went into meltdown, Somaliland remained relatively stable.
 
It has a functioning government; has had held a series of elections; has recently handed out commercial oil explorationlicenses; and its strategic port of Berbera is one of Ethiopia’s outlets to the sea.
Its progress is recognised by the international community, and there is the precedence of independence in Eritrea and South Sudan. But there is no appetite for Somaliland’s independence from within the African Union, and it has the lead on the issue.
 
 
Received on Fri May 13 2016 - 18:18:42 EDT

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