After a widely shared dramatic report and photos on the online and social media, the Government of Somaliland has officially rejected that it received any military supply from UAE last week.
On Thursday numerous media agencies in Somaliland reported that UAE Government may have supplied military equipment including army vehicles and tanks to Somaliland following President Silanyo’s visit to UAE in early June. But the Government says the report is baseless and falsified.
The Director of Berbera Port Authority Eng. Ali Hoorhoor as well as the Governor of Sahil region Fahmi Abdi Bidar on Friday held a press conference and strongly denied that Somaliland received any sort of military supply from UAE.
“Neither the content of the report nor the photos are correct. Somaliland received no military supply from UAE. This is completely propaganda and we don’t know who is spreading it” says the Director of Berbera Port Authority.
The UN Security Council has partially lifted the Somalia Army Embargo only from the Federal Government of Somalia in relation to the fight against Al-Shabab. However, UAE recently provided army vehicles along with other important supplies to Jubbaland Interim Administration. It is not officially known if the Federal Government of Somalia or the UN endorsed it.
Somaliland Government and opposition parties have on several occasions called on the UN Security Council not to lift the Somalia Army Embargo from the Federal Government of Somalia. They warned that any weapon given to the Federal Government army may eventually end up in the hands of Al-Shabab or a particular clan and hence lead to fresh deadly conflict in the Horn of Africa.
Bandhige@gmail.com