The President of the Republic of Somaliland, His Excellency Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ‘Siilaanyo’, left today for Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, for an official, two-day visit.
The President, shortly before he flew off from Egal International Airport, told the press that he was going to meet the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Ato Desalegn Hailemariam on matters of mutual import.
The President, however, stood his ground on details deferring them to their return upon conclusion of visit.
There are, the media says, a great number of unfinished initiatives the two sides have been co-developing in recent years none of which has yet been fully implemented including the Berbera Corridor program that would link Somaliland with land-locked Ethiopia with its teeming masses, the electrical power MOU, the Wajaale-Hargeisa tarmac road and a number of other equally important projects relating to the trade, security and infrastructure of the two countries.
Accompanying the President on this trip are the First Lady, Amina Mohamoud Jirdeh, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Behi Yonis, the Minister for the Presidency, Hirsi Ali Haj Hassan, the Minister for Interior Affairs, Ali Mohamed Waran Addeh, the Executive Secretary to the President, Ali Ahmed Ali, and the Somaliland Ambassador to Ethiopia, Adan Jama Galal.
The President’s delegation was seen off at the airport by the Vice President, H.E. Abdirahman Abdullahu Seyli’i, Chairman of the ruling party, Musa Behi Abdi, Deputy Chairman, Mohamed Kahin Ahmed, the 1st Deputy House Speaker, Bashe Mohamed Farah, Ministers of the government, parliamentarians, the Chief Commanders of the army, the police and the custodial corps, sultans and other traditional leaders and a great number of Somalilanders waving the national colors.
His Excellency the President stopped by the hospital where Sultan Mohamed Sultan Hirsi Ghani was being treated. The Sultan, during the President’s visit was in a coma following a brain stroke he suffered.
The President wished him a speedy recovery.
Due to God’s grace, the ailing Sultan soon after came out of the coma and sat up delighting all his followers, family, friends and well-wishers in Somaliland and beyond.
Below are more pictures of the President’s departure: