President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland has accepted the apology issued by President Mohamed Farmaajo of Somalia while ruling out the planned tour of Hargeisa.
For weeks, Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy of Ethiopia and President Farmaajo of Somalia have planned a joint tour of Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital.
President Farmaajo apologized for the atrocities that past governments of Somalia, especially Mohamed Siad Barre’s administration, committed against Somaliland.
While delivering his third annual address to Somaliland’s Parliament, President Bihi said Farmaajo’s apology was not only “timely but also acceptable.”
Somaliland has never forgiven Somalia for the atrocities President Barre committed against its people in 1988.
Since then, the two countries have never seen eye-to-eye.
In his apology to Somaliland, Farmaajo asked for forgiveness while saying, “The cause of our differences was not clan-based wars” but “uncivilized acts the government committed.”
Despite accepting Farmaajo’s apology, Bihi was quick to stress that the proposed tour of Hargeisa was unwelcome.