Following a two-week visit to the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ‘Siilaanyo’, returned to the capital, Hargeisa, to a rousing welcome.
The public, besides government-related officials, showed and shouted how the President’s charisma has not waned over the years.
“I have come out to the streets to welcome back my President,” an elderly lady speaking to a local radio station said, her voice breaking with emotion.
“I wish the President a long, healthy life,” another man, waving his hands to the passing entourage said, adding that the President has won over public adoration for his steadfast development programs and the long years he has served his country.
Speaking to the press at the President, Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Dahir “Ukusse”, stated that the president’s visit was based on three objectives.
The first was to mop up loose ends on the development deal which Somaliland reached with the Emirati ports authority, DP World, on the Berbera Port program and other directly related projects which included a number of infrastructural schemes.
The second, he said, was on jumpstarting fresh talks with the UAE, at the government level, on security and personnel training which specifically pertained to an upgrade of Somaliland’s security and military capability.
The third – and the central objective behind visit, the Minister said, was to re-organize, meet, and re-galvanize the formidable support the ruling party, Kulmiye, had in the UK during which the President’s delegation which included the Party Chairman, Muse Behi, and a number of Ministers and top party officials, held a series of meetings with officers and supports of the UK chapter.
“We have been so thrilled, so pleasantly rewarded by the spirit of Kulmiye supporters which reassured us all that no amount of opposition can withstand it,” he said.
