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Somali Foreign Minister escapes assassination attempt

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Somali’s Foreign Minister Abdisaid Muse Ali, on Thursday evening, escaped an assassination attempt at Galkayo town in Puntland province, located in the northwest of the country, officials say.

One person was reportedly killed and others injured in the attack Ali said was carried out by forces loyal to the local administration of Puntland which controls the northern portion of the town.

One of the minister’s bodyguards was killed while the clan elder Yasin Abdisamad, sustained injuries, according to the state officials.

Somalian state TV reported that one soldier was killed and three people were wounded in the attack on the minister.

The incident comes amid heightened political tensions in Somalia and a prolonged electoral process marred by alleged corruption and irregularities.

In a tweet on the incident later on Thursday, Ali claimed the attack was an attempt on his life.

The Minister said that he had been on holiday in the town when a regional police commander ordered local security forces to attack him.

“The attack happened when my family was having iftar, the meal taken after sunset during Ramadan, that was hosted by a local traditional elder.

“I strongly condemn violence as a means to achieve political ends and will hold all involved accountable by all means necessary,” he tweeted.

However, the Governor of Puntland’s Mudug region, Abdilatif Muse Nur, blamed the minister for causing the confrontation.

“I want to tell the public in Puntland and the Somali people at large, that the confrontation in Galkayo town was provoked by the Somalia Foreign Minister Abdisaid Muse Ali, who came to the town to propagate unproductive policies,” said Nur.

Ahmed Karash, the deputy leader of Puntland, has condemned the incident and promised an investigation, saying a committee will be set up and those responsible will be brought to justice.

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Politics

Ethiopia, Somalia agree to resolve Somaliland port conflict

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Ethiopia and Somalia agreed to cooperate in settling a disagreement over Addis Ababa’s proposal to construct a port in Somaliland. This breakaway area had attracted regional powers, posing a further threat to the stability of the Horn of Africa.

Following discussions facilitated by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the leaders of the two nations said that they had reached an agreement to create business agreements that would provide landlocked Ethiopia “reliable, secure and sustainable access to and from the sea.”

The meeting was their first since Ethiopia announced in January that it would recognise the independence of Somaliland, a breakaway entity in northern Somalia, in exchange for leasing a port there.

The agreement was rejected by Mogadishu, which also threatened to drive out Ethiopian forces fighting Islamist terrorists in Somalia.

Somaliland, which has governed itself and had relative peace and stability since announcing its independence in 1991, is opposed by Somalia to international recognition.

Ethiopia and Somalia announced in a joint statement issued late Wednesday that they had agreed to begin technical talks by the end of February of next year and to wrap them up in four months.

“This joint declaration focuses on the future, not the past,” Erdogan said at a press conference in Ankara afterwards.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed praised Turkish attempts to settle the conflict, while Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared he was prepared to cooperate with Ethiopia.

The dispute has brought Somalia closer to Eritrea, another of Ethiopia’s longstanding enemies, and Egypt, which has been at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s development of a massive hydro project on the Nile River.

Ethiopia and Somalia are close partners of Turkey, which provides development aid and security force training to Somalia in exchange for a foothold on a vital international shipping route.

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Officials report fight between Somalia’s Jubbaland region, central govt

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After Jubbaland staged an election against the advice of the Mogadishu administration, officials claimed on Wednesday that fighting had broken out between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region of Somalia.

“This morning, federal forces from Mogadishu in Ras Kamboni, using drones, attacked Jubbaland forces,” Adan Ahmed Haji, assistant security minister of Jubbaland, told a press conference in Jubbaland’s capital Kismayu.

Response requests were not immediately answered by Interior Minister Yusuf Ali or Information Minister Daud Aweis of the national administration.

Jubbaland, one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous republics that borders Ethiopia and Kenya, elected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe to a third term in late November.

 

Jubbaland has the potential to be one of Somalia’s richest districts due to its location and natural resources, but for more than 20 years, violence has kept it permanently unsettled.

There are no explicit guidelines in the Somali constitution regarding the establishment of recently formed federal entities or their interactions with the national government.

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