Somalia: Djibouti rolls out red carpet for Somaliland president

DJIBOUTI - The president of Somalia’s northern breakaway region of Somaliland received a red carpet welcome at Ambouli International Airport as he embarks on a visit to Djibouti, Garowe Online reports.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti held a meeting with Somaliland leader Muse Bihi and his entourage at the presidential palace on Tuesday and discussed the relations between the two sides.

“The meeting between the two sides discussed a number of issues of mutual concern, such as cooperation between the Djibouti and Somaliland, in terms of economic, media and trade relations,” said Guelleh in his Twitter account.

The trip by Bihi which becomes his second since 2017 comes barely two weeks after Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo paid a similar visit to Djibouti and had bilateral talks with his counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh.

It remains unclear the aim of Guelleh for hosting Bihi as Somaliland presidency did not provide details.

In 2011, the tiny Horn of Africa country dispatched hundreds of soldiers to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia supporting the UN-backed weak Government based in Mogadishu which is fighting Islamist insurgents.

The AU mission’s job is to defend the Government against Al-Shabab, the Al-Qaeda’s deadliest ally in East Africa and it has made some gains, pushing the extremists out of Mogadishu in August 2011 and other key areas.

GAROWE ONLINE