​Somalia: Puntland Ministers slam Mogadishu’s claims of sabotaging talks in Seychelles

GAROWE, Puntland- The Ministry of Fishery and Marine Resources of Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland, has slammed recent accusation made by Federal Minister of Fishery claiming that Puntland had role in failing conference aimed to reach agreement on marine fishing revenues, Garowe Online reports.

The talks which were held in Victoria city, the capital of Seychelles early this month, saw the participation of delegates from the ministries of fisheries from regional administrations and representatives from the Federal government to ink a deal on sharing tuna fishing revenues off the coast of Somalia but ended without agreement.

Last week, Federal Minister of Fishery Abdirahman Mohamed Hashi, blamed the collapse of talks on Puntland delegate for demanding share revenue equal to the Federal government and accused them of acting like a sovereign nation.

According to the draft agreement, the Federal Government is set to receive 30-percent from the revenue generated, whereas the 70-percent will be equally distributed among regional states.

However, during the press conference held today, top officials from Puntland Ministry of Fishery said that Mogadishu’s accusation are baseless as they described talks in Victoria city to be successful contrary to statements by the Federal official.

Puntland officials released a statement indicating the proposed quota on revenue- sharing wasn’t discussed between member states and claimed it doesn’t translate the reality on the ground.

The officials were reported have suggested restructuring quota among Federal member states based on coastline length, number of coastal districts and marine revenue income, to ensure fair share distribution among members.  

The talks in Victoria was organized by consortium of international organizations; FAO, UNODC, Secure Fisheries and USAID to create source revenue for the Federal government from the fishing trade off Somalia’s coast by the International companies.

Western corporations are seeking to utilize the tuna reserves in the waters of Somalia, a lucrative trade globally amid high demands and soar prices. Those companies are aiming to obtain legal permits from the Federal government and Federal member states for tuna fishing by paying taxes.

GAROWEONLINE