Hargeisa calls Djibouti conference “hostile”

The administration in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on Thursday threatened to “react aggressively” if the Djibouti peace conference, which opened on Thursday after an initial consultative phase, established an administration that included it as part of Somalia. The ‘information minister’ of the self-declared Somaliland republic, Ali Mohamed Waran’ade, accused Djibouti of undermining Somaliland’s “integrity and sovereignty”, and said the conference was hostile to it, and to peace and independence, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

Waran’ade said the latest Djibouti peace initiative - in which delegates have agreed that the unity of Somalia is sacrosanct and that the Somali people should form an all-inclusive Somali government - would ignite renewed hostilities in Somalia and never be accepted in Somaliland, which would fight to defend its independence. The second phase of the peace conference at Arta, which opened on Thursday, is expected to focus on decentralised structures of government, the special status of Mogadishu, elections, and the choosing of a cabinet, parliament and government leadership.