Somaliland free to establish ties with Israel-president
HARGEYSA, Somaliland, May 10, 2005 (Haatuf) — The president of Somaliland, Dahir Riyale Kahin, has said no-one can stop Somaliland from establishing ties with the State of Israel if it so wished. The president blamed Arab states for the deterioration in ties between Somaliland and Arab countries.
The president made the remarks in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV aired last evening. He was featured in the programme called Today’s Meeting [Arabic: Liqa al-Yawm] – a programme which the TV runs each day and in which prominent world leaders are interviewed.
Looking very confident, he answered all the questions put to him by the Al-Jazeera reporters who called on him at the presidency recently very frankly. The president gave his answers in English which was then translated into Arabic. Below are the questions put to the president and his answers, which we have translated for you:
– What has caused your ties with Arab countries to deteriorate?
Kahin: The Arab countries are the ones responsible for the deterioration in the ties between us and it is them who have up to now not recognized our sovereignty which we presented to them several times. They are divided into two groups: some do not know all we underwent and what has caused us to separate from the rest of Somalia. Others are just ignoring the matter and are aware of the fundamental facts. Countries like Egypt, which is a great country and which is also at the forefront of Arab leadership, is aware of the fundamental facts but it is ignoring this, and I do not know what has caused that. Samir Husni from the Arab League visited me here and we discussed at length issues concerning our sovereignty, but he has not taken issues the way I told him. Other than that, we receive assistance from countries far away like the USA and Europe. So if they are opposed to our sovereignty, why don’t they assist us, we are their brothers who are in need of their assistance and help.
– Do you have any relations with Israel as it has been said?
Kahin: Many Arab countries have ties with Israel and they have no problem with that. We have no relations with Israel currently but if we want to, no-one can stop us from having ties with Israel.
– Ethiopia is the only country that has an embassy in Hargeysa. How are your relations?
Kahin: We have good relations with Ethiopia and we want them to use the port of Berbera. We have envoys in so many other countries including Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and so many others although only Ethiopia has offices here in Hargeysa.
– Recently you said that you have arrested terrorist groups, who are they?
Kahin: They are people who have recently carried out some terrorist acts in the country and some of them were from Mogadishu. They were arrested and their issue is before the law.
– Is there an ONLF [Ogaden National Liberation Front] group that operates from your country and launches attacks on Ethiopia?
Kahin: No there isn’t. We have a cooperation agreement with Ethiopia on security and we shall fight anything that will cause insecurity.
Material provided by the BBC Monitoring service.