Thursday, January 16, 2014

Somalia, Somaliland Holds Third Round of Talks in Turkey

SOMALIA: Third round of Somalia, Somaliland talks to commence in Turkey

Posted on January 15, 2014
Mogadishu (RBC)

Representative from the Federal Government of Somalia and the breakaway administration of Somaliland are heading to Ankara, Turkey to attend the third round of talks on the country’s future, RBC Radio reports.

A delegation of Members of the Federal Parliament and cabinet members representing the Mogadishu-based Federal Government departed to Ankara on Wednesday morning while other delegation from Hargeysa departed from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia late on Tuesday.

According to preliminary schedule, the third round talks will officially start in Ankara on Thursday morning whilst both sides representatives continue negotiating on the next three days.

The talks were postponed in November last year due to political infighting within the Federal Government top officials which later led to the oust of the country’s former Prime Minister and brought the appointment of a new Prime Minister.

The new Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia is now working on to form a new cabinet which politicians from Somaliland region will be included.

The Ankara talks are mediated by the Turkish Government while western allies including the U.S and the UK are backing.

Both Somalia and Somaliland said they will be committed to continue negotiations and will focus on futrure ties of the two regions.

Somaliland, a former British Protectorate region has declared its secession from Somalia in 1991 following the collapse of Somalia’s Central Government which led the country to plunge into two decades of civil wars but the region has not gained any international recognition since then.

RBC Radio

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