The government Somaliland has issued a strong warning to the government of the semi-autonomous of Puntland against continued provocation and interfering with ongoing oil exploration being conducted inside the country.
In an Interview with state owned Somali language paper, Somaliland Minister of Energy and Minerals Hon Hussein Abdi Dualeh responding to remarks made recently by the Minister of information of the semi-autonomous of Puntland said, “The allegations being made Puntland officials are false and have no merit whatsoever and that its part of a campaign meant to mislead and short-circuit Somaliland development, this is evident in the continuous propaganda war.
Hon Hussein Abdi Dualeh went on to say, “The ongoing exploration activities by multinational companies currently are all being undertaken inside Somaliland territory and not in another country, so the government of Somaliland does not need approval of another entity to conduct such activates.
“Somaliland government has granted licenses four (4) international oil & gas companies some of which are publicly traded companies to operate in Somaliland, among them DNO Block SL18, is a frontier exploration block , – DNO ASA is an Oslo-listed, and all our agreement are bidding and also in accordance with international norms and do not approval from Mogadishu Nor Garowe”, he added.
The Energy Minister concluded by stating, “It’s a high time they should know the tribal boundaries do not determine the boundaries of nations of Somaliland is one and all their actions are doomed to failure and no matter what they do they should be aware that we will prevail and there wicked intentions won’t affect neither influence our relations with our investment partners in any way”, he said.
