By M.A. Egge
Minister of Energy and Minerals Hon. Abdullahi Farah Abdi said that a letter from Mogadishu has no impact whatsoever nor can it change the reality of Somaliland’s sovereignty.
In a presser that he had while flanked by the officials of the ministry, the minister retorted to statements of Somali government in Mogadishu, which was against the exploration of oil resources in the country.
He said that the oil wells that will be drilled in the country will not be controlled by Somalia, and that the international community and the companies involved in the projects are privy to the matter.
He said that the statement issued by Somalia was a baseless assumption and meaningless because Somaliland is a national entity of its own hence any claims by anyone to the contrary are non-binding and mere dreams.
He noted that the country has a constitution attained through public suffrage and the country is a dejure sovereign.
Hon. Abdillahi recalled that such blatant statements from Somali was no the first one but in 2012 they issued a similar statement and of course it came to naught.
He said that the oil exploration company Genel Energy is not starting the works now, but after 12 years of their agreement, it has gone through four stages of oil exploration, and this is the last one.
He said that to the chagrin of Somalia, they have seen that the project was being implemented successfully and would be completed to fruition in a year that is why they are yapping.
Minister Abdillahi said that they have confidence in the agreements between the oil exploration companies and that the concerned companies know the truth of the facts as concerns Somaliland being a completely separate entity from the Mogadishu government.
