Sunday June 14, 2020
NAIROBI (HOL) - President Mohamed Farmaajo, Somaliland President Muse Bihi, Prime Minister Hassan Khayre and a delegation of ministers and MPs have departed for Djibouti this morning for another round of talks after the last one in 2015 collapsed in Turkey.
According to the list seen by HOL, Farmaajo is leading a high powered delegation including Lower House Speaker Mohamed Mursal, Attorney General Sulayman Mohamoud, Interior Minister Abdi Sabriye and Petroleum Minister Abdirashid Ahmed.
Others in the Mogadishu delegation are Maryam Qasim (MP), the chairman of the Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission Mohamed Afrah and Constitutional Affairs Deputy Minister Hussein Elmi.
From Hargeisa, Bihi, whose team left an hour earlier is being accompanied by four ministers and Upper House (Guurti) speaker Suleiman Gaal. Somaliland Foreign Affairs Minister Yasin Mohamed confirmed the list.
Outspoken presidential advisor on Somaliland independence Adna Adam is also attending the talks.
Djibouti President Omar Guelleh confirmed the talks Saturday evening.
“Tomorrow in Djibouti, I will chair a meeting between President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and President Moussa Bihi Abdi to follow up on the mediation efforts between the two leaders. I have also invited Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to attend the discussions,” a tweet from his account read.
Mogadishu and Hargeisa have maintained frosty relations since Farmaajo came to office in 2017.
The two sides have sharply differed over the UAE port and naval base contracts signed off by Somaliland at Berbera Port.