Somaliland Government Defends Arresting of Opposition Candidates

Somaliland government has commented for the first time about the detained opposition candidates and defended the government security forces for having arrested the candidates.

The Minister of Information Saleban Ali Kore said that these candidates had close ties with Somalia and the government will bring them before justice for treason. Koore said they have enough evidence that will be disclosed before the court.

The two opposition political parties of Somaliland; Waddani and Ucid had separately condemned the detention of the candidates by the Somaliland security forces. The two parties described the move as provocative and the government must respect the elections code of conduct while urging the government to release them without condition.

The Somaliland National human rights commision and the National electoral commission had separately warned and instructed all the security agencies to avoid arresting candidates.