Somaliland "will not attend" talks

The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland will not attend the upcoming Somali reconciliation talks, Somaliland's Information Minister Abdullahi Muhammad Du'ale told IRIN on Monday.

He said it was well known that the government's policy was not to participate in such conferences.

On Friday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Marsden Madoka said Somaliland would be invited to attend the talks, which are expected to be held in Kenya at the end of September. He was speaking in Nairobi at a ministerial meeting of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which discussed plans for the upcoming Somali reconciliation conference.

Du'ale said that IGAD - under whose auspices the talks will be held - was aware of Somaliland's policy on this issue. "We never attended past rounds of talks, we will not attend this one, and we will not attend future talks, which I am certain will follow this one," he told IRIN.

He stressed that Somaliland was a "sovereign state with de facto recognition" and did not need talks about peace and reconciliation "which the country already enjoys".

Du'ale told IRIN that Somaliland was currently busy with its democratisation process, the "deepening and strengthening of our institutions" and preparing for municipal elections on 27 October.

He advised IGAD to concentrate on resolving problems where they existed, noting that "we have already had our reconciliation".

Du'ale added that the Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government should concentrate on bringing about peace in Mogadishu and "stop pretending it is responsible for the peace prevailing in Somaliland".

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, declared unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, but has not received any international recognition.