Eritrean High-level Delegation Visits Somaliland

An Eritrean delegation led by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Adviser Yemane Gebreab met with Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi at his office in Hargeisa today.

Speaking after the meeting, Osman Saleh, said the meeting was interesting and very important, and will not be the last meeting between the countries.

He said the delegation was briefed by the President about all the political, social, and economic situations of Somaliland.

Osman Saleh also praised the peace prevailed in the horn of Africa, especially between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

He said Eritrea was busy with its own affairs, and now the region is at peace. Therefore, they are able to come to Somaliland and see “the situation.”

“War was waged against us by TPLF, and sanctions followed,” the Minister said, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the party that has dominated Ethiopia before Abiy Ahmed came to power.

Somaliland Foreign Minister Mr. Mohamoud Faratoon also told the press that Somaliland and the Eritrean delegation talked about the economic cooperation between the two countries.

Somaliland has built a more democratic mode of governance from the bottom up, with virtually no foreign assistance to create the most democratic political system in the Horn of Africa with viable electoral and legislative systems as well as a robust private sector-dominated economy.

Somaliland and Eritrea share similar histories from their long independence struggles, regaining their statehood from Somalia and Ethiopia and their state building processes.