No Ill-Will on Somalia’s Statehood, UK Ambassador Says Amid Reprove by Foreign Minister

GOOBJOOG NEWS/MOGADISHU: UK Ambassador to Somalia Mike Nithavrianakis has refuted claims that his remarks suggested the break-away region of Somaliland was an independent state.

Reacting to a sharp criticism by Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Fiqi, the UK diplomat said he did not intend to imply that Somalia and Somaliland were separate states.

“Just to be clear, there was no intention by this message to imply separate entities, merely a comment on wonderful work by an NGO. The UK’s position on, and reaffirmation of, Somalia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty remains the same,” the ambassador said.

In his earlier remarks while commenting the HALO Trust, an NGO which deals with anti-mining globally, Nithavrianakis wrote in a tweet that ‘The UK is proud to support the fantastic work of @TheHALOTrust in Somalia and Somaliland (and elsewhere around the world).’

But in a quick rejoinder, Minister Fiqi admonished the ambassador noting, ‘the fragmentation of a unified entity and its reclassification under two distinct names is utterly unacceptable and constitutes a blatant attack on the sovereignty and unity of Somalia.’

Somaliland broke away and announced statehood in May 1991 following the outbreak of the civil war but has not been recognised internationally.