Wednesday December 16, 2020
NAIROBI (HOL) - Kenya’s opposition Raila Odinga who is also a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta has upped called for international recognition of Somaliland noting it was no longer feasible for the break-away region to re-unite with Somalia.
Speaking during a luncheon he hosted for Somaliland president Muse Bihi and his delegation Tuesday, Odinga said time had come for the UN and African Union to accept the fate of Somaliland as a new country.“AU needs to wake up to the reality that it is not going to be possible again to bring these two countries together, and recognize them as two separate countries,” Raila said.
Noting that he had spoken in various forums on the need to recognise Somaliland, Odinga who is also the African Union Representative on Infrastructure said the international community should follow suit in accepting Somaliland’s statehood just as it has done in other contested territories such as Saharawi Republic which is still claimed by Morocco.
Though the outspoken opposition leader said he was speaking on a personal capacity, his remarks mirror Kenya’s current stance on the Somaliland issue. Kenyatta and Bihi said in a joint statement Tuesday both sides would open consulates in a move that could be seen to elevate Somaliland’s status from Nairobi’s vantage point.
The remarks come in the wake of severance of diplomatic ties by Somalia with Kenya amid an escalating row over what Mogadishu says is the ‘blatant interference’ of its internal affairs.
But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi said Tuesday it had not received any formal complaints from Somalia. Information Minister Osman Dubbe, in what many have described a violation of diplomatic protocol went on Tv at 2am Tuesday to announce the end of ties with Kenya.