Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 25, 2006 (SL Times) – Four parliamentarians serving in Somaliland’s lower house of parliament on a private visit to neighboring Djibouti were denied entry visa at Djibouti’s international airport on Thursday 23 November 2006. The four Somaliland legislators flew from Hargeysa Egal international airport at 8:00 AM on Daallo airlines flight on route to Djibouti.

On arrival their Somaliland passports were taken from them and were detained by Djibouti’s airport immigration officials. After, for more than one and half hours in detention they were told by the airport’s immigration officials that their clearance in to the country has been denied by their government and must be deported back to Hargeysa.

Somaliland Times, was told by Mr Bashir Sh. Hussein (Tukaale) who was among the four Somaliland legislators denied entry into Djibouti that the legislators were making a private visit to Djibouti to give their personal condolence and sorrow to the family of the late former president of Djibouti, Hassan Guled Abtidon who died on 21 November 2006, two days before their arrival.

Mr Bashir Sh. Hussein said, ‘on arriving at Djibouti international airport we informed the airport officials that we were members of the lower house of Somaliland’s parliament and are traveling to Djibouti to mark our respect for the former late president and give our condolence to his family and the nation of Djibouti. We were later told after waiting for more than one and half hours in the airport by the airport immigration that we have been denied entry visa by the Djibouti government and were subsequently deported back to Somaliland on the very same day we arrived in Djbouti’.

Mr Bashir Sh. Hussein said, 'his colleagues had travelled to Djibouti in the past using their Somaliland passports and suggested reason why they were denied entry was probably due to the 2002 funeral incident of our late president, Mohammed Ibrahim H. Egal whereby a delegation of Djibouti's parliamnet who wanted to participate in the funeral were refused entry in to Somaliland by the government because the plane they were travelling in did not give prior notice or seek permission from Somaliland government to enter its airspace and land in its airports'. Mr Bashir Sh. Hussein concluded ' this can only be the reason why we were refused entry into Djibouti'.

Source: Somaliland Times