MOGADISHU, Somalia – The president of Somalia Hassan Sheikh is in Djibouti to resume talks with Somaliland leader Muse Bihi Abdi to resolve conflicts and reconciliation.
According to Daud Aweys, the country’s information ministry the Interior and Trade ministers are part of the president’s delegation arrived in Djibouti on Thursday morning.
Djibouti is hosting the talks, with Somaliland’s President Muse Bihi also attending.
The experts privy to the talks say Achieving progress in the Somalia-Somaliland dialogue will require a commitment from Mogadishu, Hargeisa, and the international community.
Somalia and Somaliland, which have been locked in a decades-long standoff over Somaliland’s 1991 claim of independence and Mogadishu’s rejection of it, are talking again.
The resumption of dialogue provides a basis to improve cooperation on several important technical matters relating to international aid, airspace management, and security cooperation.
Somaliland remains largely unrecognized within Africa and globally almost three decades after its secession. The current round of negotiations began on the initiative of Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh.
