International
Somaliland rejects Museveni’s offer to mediate unification talks with Somalia
Breakaway region of Somaliland has rejected efforts by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to mediate in reunification talks aimed at uniting the region and Somalia.
Museveni had mooted the unification talks between the two entities and sent emissaries to the two governments but Somaliland officials said the region has no plans to discuss unity with Somalia.
“Any dialogue that transpires between Somaliland and Somalia will not discuss unification, but rather how the two previously united countries can move forward separately,” Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement added that the country would only agree to talks with Mogadishu if the agenda is on the future of both entities as separate states.
Read also: 34 killed as fighting rages in Somalia’s breakaway region
Museveni’s offer followed a meeting in Uganda with an envoy of Somaliland’s president where he said that Somaliland’s secession had frustrated efforts to build a strong and prosperous Somali state.
Somaliland’s government declared autonomy from Somalia in 1991 but the nation has not gained widespread international recognition for independence.
The region has been dealing with secessionist forces itself with heavy fighting breaking out intermittently between its forces and clan militiamen who also want to break away from Somaliland to create their own state.
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