By Gulaid Dalha
Berbera – Somali Commentator – Tensions have flared up in Somaliland after the Minister of Civil Aviation; Farhan avowed that the government of Somaliland has accepted an official request from UAE seeking formal permission to establish a military base in the port city of Berbera.
Ethiopia, the closest friend of Somaliland, and which of course opened an embassy to bolster its merely maintained consulate missions in the enclave would probably enrage the call of UAE.
Further, “Ethiopia also assists Somaliland in maintaining security in Somaliland, a region often considering an oasis of peace in the volatile region,” says Hiiraan Online.
“We, Somaliland, want to bolster our ties with both UAE and Ethiopia – the issue of providing military base to UAE is beneficial to Somaliland and has its upset too. I think this should be considered by the President of Somaliland and the parliament,” said Dr Saad, FM of Somaliland.
Meanwhile, economists warned that Somaliland’s close relations with UAE would hurt its relations with neighboring countries including Ethiopia and Djibouti that maintained warm relations with the breakaway republic before it moved to establish economic relations with the United Arab Emirates.
According to officials, Djibouti’s government has repeatedly warned Somaliland leaders over their decisions to embrace UAE as a closer ally, by allowing UAE to maximize its strategic interests in the untapped horn of Africa market.
As reported by Hubaal Newspaper reporters, Dr Saad Ali Shire, FM of Somaliland is deeply concerned about the problem. He sees that there is no interest for Somaliland to sign this agreement. But Baashe Awil, the son-in-law of the incumbent president Silanyo is backing such dangerous move and is in tireless effort to handover the airport to UAE.
Dr Saad Ali Shire, Somaliland’s Foreign Minster stated this he doesn’t know any information pertaining that Somaliland has signed memorandum of understanding with UAE. On the other hand, Dr Saad, a PhD, said that he has not seen any interest for Somaliland over UAE in landing permission to establish a military base in Berbera.
Source: Somalicommentator
