Somaliland has expressed her desire to join the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yassin Hagi is on a working visit to Kampala where he met his Uganda counterpart Sam Kutesa and Rebecca Kadaga Speaker of the Ugandan parliament.
Kadaga said Uganda will make a follow up on Somaliland’s request to be accommodated in the IPU.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the global organization of national parliaments. It empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development.
Created in 1889, the IPU today has 179 Member Parliaments out of the 193 countries in the world.
The IPU helps strengthen parliaments to make them more effective and representative creates a global space for parliamentary diplomacy, dialogue and networking and also works to increase women’s representation in parliament and empower women MPs while at the same time encouraging youth participation in parliaments and empower young MPs.
Somaliland, still unrecognized internationally boasts a vibrant parliament which consists of two chambers: The House of Elders (Upper Chamber); The House of Representatives (Lower Chamber).
Joining the IPU will help the country in its push for international recognition which it has been battling for since separating from Somalia in 1991 when the civil war erupted.
Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of the Uganda parliament said the country will help push for Somaliland’s entry in the IPU.
“Somaliland Foreign Minister Yasin Hagi Mohamoud paid a courtesy call last evening. Our conversation on diverse issues included the country’s desire to join the Inter-Parliamentary Union,” Kadaga tweeted.
The Somaliland minister also held talks with renowned entrepreneur Amina Hersi Moghe.
Uganda parliament has been supportive of Somaliland’s course for self-determination.
During the Somaliland independence day celebrations last May, a delegation from Kampala was in Hargeisa for a fact-finding mission.
Led by the Uganda Parliamentary Committee Chairman on Foreign Affairs committee Hood Katuramu, the team from Kampala said it is time Uganda and the Africa Union recognized Somaliland as an independent state.
“If we are talking about pan Africanism, which Uganda prides itself to be a leader in this push, I think the time is ripe for us to recognize and start working with Somaliland,” Katuramu said when the Uganda delegation met a team of Somaliland at the parliament buildings in Hargeisa.
A member of the committee Akurut Violet Adome said Somaliland had met all requirements to be recognized as a state and wondered why a country already doing business with investors from other African nations, the middle east and Europe cannot be given international recognition.
“Somaliland has placed its case internationally and proved they deserve to be recognized. We will implore on our president Yoweri Museveni to move fast and recognize this nation,” said Adome.
BY ODINDO AYIEKO
Source: EABW
