MOGADISHU, Somalia – Members of Somali parliament from SSC regions released a joint statement calling on Somaliland to stop coercion and violence in Sool and pull out its troops, Garowe Online reports.

The press release has been issued by 11 MPs, among them the minister of fisheries and representatives in the different federal branches of the Somali government from the Sool, Sanag, and Cayn (SSC) regions.

The Statement

1. We declare that the unity of the Federal Republic of Somalia is constitutionally sacred.

2. We want to remind the Federal Government of Somalia and the international community that the traditional elders of the SSC have categorically stated a number of times that no agreement was entered between the Somaliland administration and the people of the SSC to secede from Somalia.

3. No region can forcefully rule over another and impose its authority at gunpoint. Such illegal and violent action are against all international norms and human rights.

4. We condemn the Muse Bihi administration its coercion, imprisonment, and disenfranchisement of the most vulnerable members of the Sool region because of their rightful demand to freely self-express and engage in peaceful demonstration.

5. We are warning that if the subjugation of the people of Sool, Sanag, and Ayn by the Muse Bihi administration continues, this will have dire consequences and create hostility that will endure.

6. We fully support the government of Puntland in its effort to liberate all the territories that were illegally captured by the Somaliland administration in 2004, 2007 and still being occupied as of 2018.

7. We are calling upon the people of Sool, Sanaag, and Ayn to fully support the government of Puntland in its duty to liberate its regions still illegally occupied.

8. We are calling upon the international community not to propose an expedient solution that could make the achievement of long-lasting peace elusive.

9. Finally, we are calling upon the federal government and international community to provide emergency aid and assistance as soon as possible to the people of Sool, Sanag, Cayn displaced by the fighting.

Signatures of the press release:

Minister of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources H.E. Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi Hashi.

Senator Abdisalan Hagi Mohamoud,

Senator Hodan Mohamoud Osman,

MP Ali Ahmed Jama Jangeli,

MP Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed,

P Ahmed Ismail Shabeel,

MP Anab Hassan Elmi,

MP Abdullahi Bidan Warsame,

MP Daud Mohamed Omar,

MP Ikram Yusuf Hersi,

MP Sharmarke Garad Suleiman Buraleh

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