MOGADISHU (Sunatimes)-The Egyptian government has formally rejected Somaliland’s call of recognition as an independent state, saying its parts of Somalia nation.

The Egyptian embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has responded to media reports quoting statements they said to have been made by an Egyptian ambassador. The statement said the Egyptian ambassador to Kenya while attending a meeting between Somaliland and donor countries in Ambassador Hotel in Hargeysa made a statement that enraged the Somaliland public.

"We as Egyptians do not recognise Somaliland. Somaliland, as far as we are concerned is a region which is part of wider Somalia," Saher Hamza, the Egyptian ambassador to Kenya said.

Newspapers in Somaliland among them Saxan Saxo, Jamhuriya, Horn of Africa and others have carried the story on their front pages asking why the Somaliland administration is yet to respond to the statements made by the Egyptian ambassador to Kenya.

Three months ago, the Egyptian ambassador to Somalia who was addressing a news conference in Hargeysa's Ambassador Hotel said there is no Somaliland recognition and that Somalia is one country that cannot be subdivided.

No comments could be reached from Somaliland authorities on the Egypt’s statements. Last month Israel media reported that the country would recognise Somaliland as a government that is independent from the rest of Somalia.

Somaliland, which broke off from Somalia when civil war erupted in 1991 and has been making more efforts to be an independent state and get recognition from the world, but no tangible efforts have been made by the wold community to accept Somaliland’s requests.

Copyright: Sunatimes

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