     Interesting | Monday, April 16, 2001 - 08:32 am
Somalia: Puntland seeking union with Somaliland
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 15, 2001
Text of report by Somali Puntland newspaper Yool on 15 April
The vice-president of the Puntland regional administration, Mr Muhammad Abdi Hashi, in an interview with the Somali language service of a Canadian radio station in Ottawa city, Canada, has said that the Puntland administration has forwarded a proposal to the government of the self-declared Somaliland, asking for a merger between the two regions.
"We have presented our proposal to Muhammad Ibrahim Egal [Somaliland president] and his government. We told them: Let us talk now, our people are brothers, our economy is integrated. Let us come together and create a union between Puntland and Somaliland, share the cabinet and forward the proposal to the IMF, World Bank and the UN," said honourable Muhammad Abdi Hasan.
"We have high hopes, although we have not yet received any reply," added the vice-president.
Meanwhile, the vice-president has said he would not contest the presidency in the next elections as announced earlier.
Source: Yool, Boosaaso, in Somali 15 Apr 01 p 1
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.
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