Somaliland hits back at Somalia over Guinea

By Andrew Wasike

Nairobi, Kenya (AA) - Somaliland on Saturday accused Somalia of bullying her international friends in the wake of the latter’s announcement that it cut all diplomatic ties with Guinea.

On Thursday, Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had made the decision after Alpha Conde, the state head of Conakry, Guinea, welcomed Somaliland’s President Muse Bihi Abdi on a visit to the capital city.

Somaliland, which is yet to be recognized by any state as an independent nation, hit back at Somalia, saying: “The ongoing complaint and bullying of Guinea government is a preemptive action to scare other countries such as Kenya from engaging Somaliland.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland added: “The international community should ignore the complaints [from Somalia] and continue to engage Somaliland which is a fully-fledged democracy with its president and legislature elected by popular vote.

“The current and previous presidents of Somaliland have engaged and continue to engage other foreign countries at the highest level.”

Kenya caused a diplomatic row with Somalia last week after its Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to a meeting with Somaliland officials as covering “issues of mutual interest to both countries” on Twitter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland also noted that Somaliland is a growing nation of over 10, 000 Kenyans, Turks, Ethiopians, Yemenis and Indians, and vowed to continue attracting more investors despite Somalia’s label as a “separatist movement”.