The President of Somaliland, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, rejected the outcomes of the IGAD summit that was held in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, on Tuesday.
The 28th IGAD extraordinary summit was kicked off on Tuesday with the attendance of high-ranking dignitaries, including the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopian premier Hailemariam Desalegn and representatives from Djibouti and Sudan. In the communiqué released after the summit, IGAD leaders have reaffirmed the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia.
Speaking to the media in Hargeisa, President Silanyo said “I reject IGAD summit communiqué and in particular the unity of Somalia. Clearly, it does not infer the real situation between Somalia and Somaliland. We have declared to the International community that we are independent and we are not part of the Federal states of Somalia.”
“Politicians and elders who hail from Somaliland regions and presently in Mogadishu do not represent our government nor they are mandated to represent us,” added Silanyo.
In the press conference, President Silanyo also called EU, AU, IGAD, Arab League, OIC, US and UN to respect the sovereignty and aspirations of Somaliland people. “The republic of Somaliland reinstated its sovereignty in May 1991 from Somalia, after the union of July 1960. Our citizens have overwhelmingly voted in May 2001 to approve to their first legitimate constitution and withdraw from the union. Somaliland is similar to any other country that withdrew from its union, such as Egypt and Syria or Sudan and Senegal in 1961 and 1960 respectively,” said Silanyo.
Somaliland has declared its independence from the rest of the country as de facto sovereign state in 1991 but it has not been recognized internationally.
