|
The meeting
in Djibouti on the Somali peace process is "hostile" and aimed
at "undermining" the prevailing peace in the self-declared
Republic of Somaliland in northwest Somalia, officials here
said Thursday.
Somaliland's
information minister Ali Mohamed Waran'ade told AFP that the
outcome of the Djibouti conference on Somalia would not be
welcomed in Somaliland.
Waran'ade
accused Djibouti of underming the "integrity and sovereignty"
of Somaliland, which seceded from the rest of Somalia in May
1991 but has yet to be recognised by the international community.
"Djibouti
invited splinter groups to represent Somaliland and wanted
to drag us into more chaos. We can loudly say that the conference
is hostile to us, peace and independence," Waran'ade charged.
The Djibouti
conference, the 13th of its kind initiated by Djibouti President
Ismail Omar Guelleh, opened its second phase on Thursday at
Arta, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Djibouti, to elect
a parliament which will select an interim president.
But Waran'ade
said that the latest Guelleh peace proposals would ignite
renewed hostilities in Somalia and vowed to defend the unilateral
declaration of Somaliland's independence.
"If the
participants of the Arta meeting establish an administration
which maintains Somaliland as part of Somalia, we would then
react aggressively," Waran'ade warned.
The Somali
peace meeting, which started on May 2, has attracted considerable
support from the international community and Somalia's civil
society, but has been bitterly opposed by the principal warlords
in the Horn of Africa.
Warlords
Hussein Mohamed Aidid, Osman Hassan Ali Atto, Musa Sudi Yalahow
and Mohamed Qanyare Afrah -- each controlling parts of the
divided Somali capital Mogadishu -- have rejected Guelleh's
plan.
The Rahanwein
Resistance Army (RRA) faction, which controls the Bay and
Bakol regions, and the regional state of "Puntland" in northeast
Somalia have also rejected Guelleh's initiative.
But at
a speech delivered to delegates on Thursday, Guelleh urged
the meeting to come up with a government that would serve
the interests of Somalia.
|
