The delegation that the Somaliland Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mohamed Behi Yonis, led to Brussels, Belgium, put up a very strong fight for Somaliland sovereignty and International recognition in a meeting that European MPs supporting the Somaliland cause organized.
At the event in a number of European and Belgium MPs as well as other notable politicians that can put their weight behind the sovereignty and recognition issue participate. The delegation, which also included, the Somaliland Minister for Planning, Saad Ali Shire, the Somaliland ex-minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Founder of Edna University Hospital, Edna Adan Ismail, the founder/owner of Maansoor Hotel, and the Somaliland Ambassador to the UK, Mr. M Awale, spoke eloquently of the history of Somaliland, achievements and the hopes they have of the international community to reward it for the peaceand stability it realized – almost singlehandedly – for 23 years in a region becoming more notorious as a spot of strife and instability in the eyes of the international community.
The delegation dissipated the myth spread by Somaliland foes that relegated Somaliland’s restoration of an internationally recognized independence in 1960 to a fallacy called ‘secession’ from Somalia.
With Ms Edna Adan mostly filling in the attending conferees with accurate translations of video footage of refugees and IDPs during the 1980s who fled the atrocities and genocide of the then ruling military regime, the diplomats and politicians who were present left the hall much more richer in their perception and understanding of the Somaliland cause.
(Listen to this three-part video of the meeting for more information)
Somaliland Puts up a fight-Part1.xvid
