The Somalia Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Essa Awad, on Saturday morning, took his country’s undiplomatic petulance, unjustifiable bitterness against the Republic of Somaliland to the international community reps in Mogadishu.
The Minister met the envoys and heads of missions representing the international community at the fenced off, heavily -guarded Adan Adde International Airport.
M. Awad, according to the press brief he gave the media at the conclusion of the meeting, tabled, again, his country’s opposition to the 28-year-old existence of the Republic of Somaliland to the participants, harping on how Somaliland should not be received or perceived as a de facto government.
“I discussed two issues with the international partners and envoys: why we cut diplomatic ties with Guinea and the Prime Minister’s visit to the Galmudug state of Somalia,” he said.
Elaborating on the first point he said, they believed the step Guinea has taken in officially inviting Somaliland as a state jeopardized the Somalia-Somaliland talks as such a step denied the necessary space and time needed to pursue the issue.
The Minister, however, chose to ignore the fact that more than a quarter of a century has already gone under the bridge since 1991, that, since 2012, all decisions reached between the two sides were unilaterally annulled by Somalia, and that his country left no stone unturned to isolate Somaliland politically, economically and socially in direct abrogation of the spirit of the talks.
“We see Somaliland as part of Somalia. There is an increasing number of countries treating Somaliland as a country on its own. We strongly oppose to that seeing it as a violation of the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the Somali nation,” Minister Awad reported as part of the agenda he submitted to the international partners and diplomats.
Minister Awad said he told the international community representatives that Somalia did not accept that the outside world must not treat Somaliland as a sovereign country and that the two of them should not be equated as two equal nations.
Minister Awad came back again and again to why Somalia has cut diplomatic ties with Guinea where His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi, has just concluded a three-day state visit.
“We have taken time to weigh the ramifications of the step we have taken. Our decision rested on sound deliberation,” he said.
In relating what he said to the foreign representation he met with, Minister Awad never used the word ‘requested’ in his brief intimating that his was an instruction given to the international heads of missions and representatives in a venue secured by, not Somalia bankroll, but theirs.
Neither Somalia nor Guinea ever had diplomatic representation in each other’s country which puts a question mark on what effect the meaningless measure Somalia has taken would have on either country.
President Bihi has, since he took the reigns of the country in late 2017, met with the leaders Ethiopia, Djibouti and Emirates.
His predecessor, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ‘Siilaanyo’, had, likewise met with the leaders of Djibouti, Ethiopia, UAE, Kuwait, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey – to mention but a cross-section.
Somaliland, it is widely acknowledged, is a better nation than Somalia in regard to its structure, governance, stability, democracy and establishment of all executive, judicial and legislative structures.
Somalia exists thanks to the presence of thousands of African, US, Turkish and British troops and personnel. AMISOM, in fact, holds the country together, keeps Al Shabaab at Bay, patrols the streets of Mogadishu, and guards all major offices and infrastructure: Villa Somalia – the government seat, the National Assembly, the main ports, major airports and almost all government offices.
Somaliland is self-sufficient and is a regional security partner.
Guinea is the second country which has been the subject of Somalia harping in as many weeks.
