In an interview with Mohamed Youssef Bakayle, who works for Kalsan TV, Somalia’s ex-prime minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, said he and Abdirahman Irro, Waddani Chairman, and other Somaliland opposition leaders accompanying him shared the reunification of Somalia-Somaliland objective.
“Since you and Abdirahman Irro, and his delegate members Buubaa, Hersi, both oppose incumbent governments and are aspiring to come on top as State leaders in upcoming elections, can we say the reunification agenda was a common goal?,” Journalist Bakayle asked.
“Yes. It is a sentiment, a feeling we share,” Mr. Farmajo responded.
Mr. Farmajo stated that if he is elected to the presidency of Somalia, the re-unification of the Somali people and their fraternization would be, for him, a topmost priority.
Mr. Farmajo very clearly corroborated the fact that he and the Somaliland opposition delegation that Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed ABDULLAHI “Irro”, the incumbent Chairman of Waddni party, one of two opposition political parties in Somaliland, ‘briefly’ met in Nairobi, and talked of Somaliland-Somalia issues, among other things. As can be gleaned from Mr. Farmajo’s responses, the two sides struck common cords in the development of what he called ‘Somali children/youth’ and ‘Somali people’ – words that are used in Somalia to mean a one-Somalia agenda.
The ex-PM described Somaliland opposition leader and the delegation he led, with whom Mr. Farmaajo met in Nairobi on its most recent, most controversial trip to Kenya, as “Somalis who love to see Somali children, Somali nation to attain development that is at par with the rest of the developed world and that can only be achieved in a union“.
“I told them that if Somali youth are to be developed, all Somali leaders must come together and unite for that cause,” he went on to say.
Mr. Irro and his delegation, according to a report published by The Star of Kenya, also, met with Mr. Omer Abdirashid Sharmarke, the outgoing Prime Minister of Somalia during their most recent Nairobi trip.
Mr. Irro, himself confirming the rumored meetings in an indirect way, said in an unguarded, outburst on Thursday, “he who is taking people to Mogadishu (reunification with Somalia) is much more welcome than he who boasts of mayhem and killing people” – a barb he darted against Musa Behi, the Presidential candidate for Kulmiye party in the March 2017 presidential elections in Somaliland.
Mr. Abdirahman Irro is also the House Speaker of the Republic of Somaliland’s House of Representatives – the Lower House of the Somaliland bi-cameral parliament. He has yet to let go of his seat at the parliament – a fact which, to parts of the electorate, signals that he is not yet ready to devote 100% of his time to running for the presidency at this stage.
