(HARGEISA, Somaliland)– The Somaliland government has said the United Arab Emirates can establish a military base in its main port town of Berbera.

In January this year the Emirati government is reported of submitting a formal application seeking permission from the Somaliland government to open a military base in the Red Sea town.

The controversial plan has attracted criticism and the main opposition party- Waddani Party accused the government of selling out Somaliland’s sovereignty to a state not willing to recognise it first .

An unprecedented joint session of the lower and upper houses of  Somaliland parliament on Sunday approved the UAE plan with 144 lawmakers in favour of UAE  military base. but parliament session descended into brutal brawl when some MPs opposing the idea of allowing foreigner power to secure a military base in Somaliland started shouting and demanded to halt the voting and to debate on the cons and pros of the UAE request and things turned into rough.

Security forces were called in the chamber by the Guurti chairman, Saleeban Mohamoud Adan who was chairing the joint session and MPs opposing the voting on the government’s agreement with UAE were thrown out of the parliament, some were even beaten up,  others were hauled down causing some of the MPs and the security forces to got into serious brawl.

The parliament speaker and Waddani Party leader and some of his party MPs walked out the session after they were denied to express their views and the Guurti leader ordered them to either sit and vote on the deal or leave the session.

The MPs thrown out of the session refused to vote on four page document not outlining the exact agreement with UAE and the terms of the deal which was handed out during the session.

The plan is controversial and Somaliland public are deeply suspicious about the whole agreement and the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia and Djibouti are opposed to it, according to local reports.

MPs roughed up

2 House in session

The Somaliland foreign minister, Dr. Sa’ad Ali Shire who spoke to the media on his return from Addis Ababa on Saturday has confirmed that there is no clear agreement to sign for the UAE and his insisted that he will not sign any agreement with UAE or others that jeopardizing Somaliland’s security and its sovereignty.

Reports say Dr. Sa’ad Ali Shire is not satisfied with the terms tabled by UAE government for securing a military base and there is a hasty attempt to sign the deal with UAE without further negotiations.

Somaliland’s president Ahmed Silanyo had made a speech atvthe session that was meant to be the ‘state of union speech which every Somaliland president is required to make in front of the parliament and he spoken in favour of the base, saying it would create jobs in Somaliland, but came short to confirm the level of diplomacy such deal could grant Somaliland.

The UAE government is planning to establish a naval base with warships that would be used to attack Shia Houthi fighters fighting the government in Yemen, according to a Somaliland official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

Speaking at the parliament session, Somaliland’s president said that the military base would benefit Somaliland most and other development projects are attached to.

The plan follows a multimillion dollar, 30-year contract for UAE’s international ports operator, DP World, to manage Somaliland’s largest and main port, Berbera.

However, the Somaliland government is facing a huge opposition on allowing foreign power to use Somaliland as a military base and the people of Somaliland are against of involvement of the proxy war that the Saudi Allies fighting with the Houthis supporting by Iran.

Somalilanders see the war in Yemen as serious war that Somaliland does not need to be dragged into and the military base for the Yemeni war could damage its neutrality in the Middle East war.

Somaliland is beacon of peace with democratic institutions  that can not make a military deals with authoritarian states that does not even have a parliament representing the people’s say on such crucial agreements.

If the military base agreement between Somaliland and the United Arab Emirates comes with development projects as president Ahmed Silanyo stated in his speech at the parliament and it leads to a new military alliance between both sides, it could be beneficial to Somaliland.

Cabays Media Staff

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