Photo/Somali Times
Somali Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe told a news conference in Mogadishu that a Djibouti mission to the Somali-Kenyan border had joined the Kenyan government. The commission, announced at December 20th in IGAD summit in Djibouti, has been sent to the border to investigate Somalia’s complaints that Kenya is organizing a rebellion on the border.
The commission said in a statement yesterday that it had found no evidence at the border of Somalia’s claims that Kenya was organizing an insurgency inside Somalia. Minister Dubbe expressed surprise at the commission’s report, accusing it of being biased and issuing a unilateral report.
‘When relations with Kenya deteriorated, a conference was convened in Djibouti. It was agreed that a commission be set up to look into the matter. Somalia was pleased when Djibouti was tasked with the investigation. The report came out, but the Somali government was shocked. Everything that has bothered Somalia and complained about the commission has made it null and void,’ said Minister Dubbe.
He said the commission blamed Somalia, and wrote that the issue of strained relations was a long-standing one and that there was now nothing between the two countries other than the maritime issue.
The report of each committee states, ‘The Kenyan defense minister has told us. Our criticism is that one side took the news and the committee refused to go to the Somali territory and returned to Kenya twice. We are happy to cross Beled-Hawo. When they came to Mogadishu, they also refused to take us by plane to Beled Hawo. We immediately became suspicious, and now their information is based on the fighting in Beled Hawo,’ Dubbe added.
The minister said that the African Union had acknowledged that the fighting in Beled Hawo was between Somalia and Kenya, but the government of Djibouti, our brother, had not been able to do so.
“I do not want the issue to be with us in Somalia and Djibouti. Our information is limited to that misinformation. The commission can be wrong and it is human, but Djibouti is our brothers and sisters who we raised and suffered for their independence,” said Somali Information Minister Osman Adan Dubbe.
The seven-member border commission, six from Djibouti, includes Yacin Elmi Bouh, Djibouti’s ambassador to Kenya, Aden Hassan Aden, Djibouti’s ambassador to Somalia, General Taher Ali Mohamed, Colonel Ali Aden Houmed, Colonel Mohamed Barkad Aden, Commander Hussein Idriss Egueh, both of the Djiboutian forces and Commander Abebe Muluneh, Director of the IGAD Security Department.