No aid talks until further notice, Somaliland tells UN
Somaliland has said it is cutting off talks with the UN on implementation of humanitarian programmes and suspending all activities relating to the affected programmes.
In a letter dated October 25, Planning Minister Hassan Ali announced the suspension of programmes with the UN. Ali said the Ministry is ‘sharing with all UN Agencies that discussions and consultations regarding the UN country programmes and work plans are suspended until further notice.”
The Minister did not however cite any reasons for the move which is likely to negatively impact humanitarian activities in the break-away region. He added that ‘all sorts of events on the above mentioned issued are not allowed effective from today 25th October 2020.’
In its latest bulletin in September, the UN Humanitarian agency OCHA warned that more than 1.3 million people in Somalia including Somaliland are food insecure. Additionally, Somaliland was most affected by the desert locust invasion destroying thousands of acreages of farmlands, particularly in Togdheer and Woqooyi Galbeed.
The announcement by Somaliland to suspend engagement with the UN comes amid an ongoing row between Mogadishu and Hargeisa over management of donor funding. While donors channel their funds and support through the Federal Government, Somaliland has demanded donors directly deal it with by-passing Mogadishu.
One of the key agenda items in the Djibouti talks between the two sides mid this year was the question of aid management. The talks which were left to technical committees have not resumed yet.