Somalia: Puntland President makes first public comments on Adado conference

GAROWE, Somalia, July 1, 2015(Garowe Online)-The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has made his first public comments on ongoing Adado convention, calling the endeavor a ‘plot’ aiming to destabilize peaceful regions, Garowe Online reports.

In anniversary celebrations address at Puntland State House where hundreds flocked to mark Somalia’s 55th Independence Day, President Ali said that Galmudug administration is a phantom aimed at disrupting peace and progress in Puntland.

“Ongoing Adado conference doesn’t look like a push to form a federal state, but in turn it is a plot orchestrated from Mogadishu to undermine existing peaceful state,” he told a crowd that included government ministers, parliamentarians, traditional leaders and Islamic scholars.

Puntland leader noted, although Puntland has both domestic and external enemies, it lays confidence in a united society and army capable of deterring threats.

Responding to remarks by federal parliament speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, Ali took a swipe, and indicated that Puntland is not in need of recognition since it existed before UN-backed national government.

Similar celebrations marking the 55th anniversary of Independence Day were held across Puntland, with Somalia’s President calling on the public to imbibe patriotism during a separate event staged at his heavily fortified compound in Mogadishu.

Puntland President’s lambaste is the first to be unleashed on Mogadishu-based Federal Government following state-wide protests against its federalism policy.

Last month, Adado conference delegates claimed Mudug in a tentative map in breach of agreement splitting the region into North and South.

Every year, Somalis celebrate the day on which the Italian Somaliland declared independence and united with British Somaliland with turnouts. 

GAROWEONLINE