His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi, speaking to an assembly of officers and enlisted men at the forward positions near Tukaraq, Saturday, said that his country had no plans to cross over to an inch of Somalia, let alone attack Garowe, capital of the Federal Somalia State of Puntland, as war pundits tend to fan from time to time to stir up public indignation and furore.
President Bihi, in the midst of his tour to the eastern regions of the internationally unrecognized but de facto republic, reached Las Anod, the regional seat of Sool region, yesterday. He drove on to visit the front positions of the army beyond Tukaraq where they face ragtag militias the Puntland leaders positioned there to ‘ defend’ Garowe and, if possible, ‘liberate’ the whole of Sool and Buuhoodle regions from there.
“We have accepted all four points the international delegations – namely IGAD and the UN – brokered between us and Puntland. we have accepted all four points sincerely and without reservation. We have welcomes that a ceasefire be effected immediately. We have accepted that the two sides exchange prisoners without condition. We have seen the logic of establishing safe, undeterred routes for all concerned parties wishing to deliver relief aid to IDPs. We have made our preference to dialogue to gunpoint engagements. Puntland did not. If it is ready to do so now, all the much the better,” he told the uniformed, battle-ready troops.
President added that Somaliland was not going to retrace its steps back to a point in history where civil strife, unrest, war, fear and instability ruled the day.
“We only have peace and coexistence to offer. We believe that all differences can be sorted out through dialogue, not with a bullet. It is when people talk that understanding finds a place,” he said.
Sool has surpassed expectations in the spirit it welcomed the President and his delegation. Traditional leaders presented a thoroughbred stallion to President Bihi. The region hosts the largest number of equinine herds in the republic.
President Bihi cut the ribbon off a few development projects the government implemented in the region which included wells, schools, roads and the like. The government disclosed that it planned a few more deep-bore wells, hoping that the region will find the kind of potable water which eluded it so far.
The President is expected to conclude his tour in the largest region of Somaliland – Sanaag. However, what point to the east of Erigavo he will reach has not been revealed.
The tracks of the Puntland President’s tracks in Badhan, Eastern Sanaag, are still fresh on the sand. Dr. Abdiweli did not stay in Badhan overnight, breaking all accepted, sotto tavolo agreements between the two sides, but he has followed his brazen, ‘challenge’ visit with ground-breaking, foundation-laying events in the same town which included the beginning of a construction of alternative premises for the Puntland parliament. such a facility, it is interesting to note, does not exist in any city in Puntland proper. The action is interpreted – far and wide – as an ultimate challenge to Somaliland with which Mr. Gass wishes to conclude his tenure in power as Puntland ‘president’.
How President Bihi would mitigate the damage done is a riddle his actions in the coming few days will decipher – or not.
