Tuesday November 26, 2019
Somalia’s Jubbaland Vice-President Mohamud Sayyid Adan is holed up at a Mandera hotel for his safety after Ethiopian forces are said to have prevented him from visiting Bula Hawa, a border Somali town.
Mr Adan and his entourage were booked at the hotel five days ago by Kenyan security agencies in Mandera and their security immediately taken over by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
“We have a VIP from Somalia who was prevented from visiting Bula Hawa by some military forces but you can get much information from Nairobi,” a security source in Mandera told Nation.
But KDF spokesperson, Major Paul Njuguna failed to pick several phone calls as we sought to confirm the military’s role in the stay of the Jubbaland VP.
MEDDLING
Somali Democratic Council (SDC), a lobby group, has accused the Ethiopian troops of preventing the VP from visiting the city of Beled-Hawo (Bula Hawa) in Gedo, Jubbaland state.
SDC said the incident was “a clear and unmistakable invasion” by the Ethiopian government.
In a letter dated November 20, 2019 and addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the US-based group accuses Ethiopia and the federal Somalia government led President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo of meddling in Jubbaland affairs.
“Mr Secretary General, We the Somali Democratic Council would like to make you aware of the grave and deeply disturbing events that are unfolding in the Jubbaland State of Somalia where non-Amisom Ethiopian troops are wreaking unimaginable havoc by detaining duly elected officials in the cities of Beled-Hawo, Dolow, and Luuq,” reads the letter signed by Abdikarim A. Omar, the council's chairman.
Mr Omar adds that “unfortunately, the Federal Government of Somalia is in cahoots with Ethiopian government forces to create chaos in Jubbaland.”