MOGADISHU, Somalia July 3 (Garowe Online) - A ministry official with the interim Somali federal government has dismissed as invalid ongoing talks between the government of Yemen and that of the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland regarding fishing rights.

Mohamed Ahmed Iman, director-general of Somalia's Ministry of Fisheries, said he first heard reports of the Yemen-Puntland deal through Somali media.

"We [Fisheries Ministry] knew nothing of this [Yemen-Puntland] deal regarding fishing rights and naval protection of the Somali coast," Iman said at a Tuesday press conference in the capital Mogadishu.

Puntland, Yemeni officials meet in Bossaso, Somalia

"Any agreement that does not go through the Somali federal government will not be legal," Iman said, adding that only the federal government had the constitutional authority sign agreements with foreign governments and companies.

Puntland's Minister of Fishing and Marine Resources, Said Mohamed Rage, traveled to Yemen last month to sign a deal with officials there regarding fishing rights off of Somalia's northern coast, as well as cooperation between naval forces on both sides of the Gulf of Aden.

Neither the Puntland administration nor the Yemeni government has disclosed any final agreement. However, Minister Rage's ongoing trip to San’a, Yemen, was preceded by a weeklong visit to Puntland by a Yemeni delegation led by that country's ambassador to Somalia, Hamid Ahmed Omar.

Puntland, on the northeastern tip of Somalia, has governed itself since 1998 and is viewed by many as being the domestic backbone of the Ethiopia-backed interim federal government in Mogadishu.

Last year, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi opposed a natural resources exploration agreement Puntland President Adde Muse signed with an Australian firm.

Source: Garowe Online