We strongly believe that the attacks follow recent consultations between Abdillahi Yusuf and his former deputy in the Somalia Sate of Puntland, Mr. Mohamed Abdi Hashi, who is now the new warlord of that region, with the sole aim of discrediting and destabilizing the peace and tranquility of Somaliland, while at the same time attempting to justify Abdillahi Yusuf’s request for International Peace keeping Forces for Somalia. Following the attack, the forces of Somaliland drove away the invading militia causing them to suffer heavy losses both in life and military hardware. The responsibility for these deaths lies squarely on the shoulders of Abdillahi Yusuf and are tragedies that would not have happened if Abdillahi Yusuf had honoured the promises of reconciliation he had only last week made to the world.So far, Somaliland has tolerated the numerous provocative actions of Abdillahi Yusuf, including the assassination attempt of the President of Somaliland while in Las-Anood in 2002, and the occupation of some areas of Somaliland since 2003.
In the interest of peace and security in the region, Somaliland had up to now shown extreme patience and restraint. However, as a result of these recent, successive, and naked provocations on the part of the Puntland State of Somalia, Somaliland’s tolerance and peaceful intentions are withering away.
The government of Somaliland wishes to reassure the International community that it will not pursue the militia of the Puntland State into Somalia provided that they voluntarily withdraw their militia out of Somaliland territory. The reassurance we gave to the British Foreign Minister for Africa only last week still holds good for Somaliland even though our patience is wearing thin.
The Government of Somaliland protests in the strongest terms against the naked attacks and provocations of Abdillahi Yusuf. We wish to inform the international community, however, that Somaliland will not hesitate to defend its borders if attacked again nor should Somaliland be used as a scapegoat for the failures of the government that has been created for Somalia.
In the interest of the people of the Horn of Africa, the International Community should exert sufficient pressure on Abdillahi Yusuf to make him withdraw his militia from Somaliland in the shortest possible time. Finally, we would like to stress that the Government of Somaliland will continue its attempts to resolve any disputes with Somalia in a peaceful manner, if and when possible, and as long as these good intentions are reciprocated.
Mrs. Edna Adan Ismail
Foreign Minister
Hargeisa
Tel/Fax: 00 252 828 3871; 00 252 2 426 922 ( M ) ; e-mail: slforeign@hotmail.com