government suspends ICRAF Operations in Somaliland

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Hargeisa –  The government of Somaliland has stopped the operations of International Council for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF.

The organisation calls itself center of science and development excellence, that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment.

The research council was to carryout studies on refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan.

Somaliland says it doesn’t fall under Somalia, thus making studies carried out in camps in Somaliland and particularly on the outskirts of the capital Hargeisa, illegal.

The chairman of the National displacement and refugee agency said in a letter sent to his office, the organisation refers Marodijeh region as North west region.

Marodhi jeh region was known as Northwest region of Somali republic before Somaliland declared itself independent from the rest of Somalia in 1991.

The government is furious about ICRAF’s decision not to regard Somaliland as an independent sovereign state.

Abdikarim Ahmed Hiniff, the chairman of the the National displacement and refugee agency said he has met the minister for planning and national development and they intend to take tougher declaration on the matter.

Abdikarim Hiniff said “The request of ICRAF, was to conduct rearch and studies on certain internally dispaced and refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda”.

Somaliland is not in that list, added the chairman.

The chairman of the agency also added “It has also stated that it is conducting studies in three camps in Somalia and Somaliland, Tabasa, Shimbirale and Ex-Mandera in North western Hargeisa. This is a grave mistake, their is nothing like Ex-Mandera. We also want to know which is the North west state. That means they are getting statistics from Somalia. That is not the case”.

Leveraging the world’s largest repository of agroforestry science and information, the organisation whose operations have been halted in Hargeisa develops knowledge practices to ensure food security and environmental sustainability.

ICRAF is the only institution that does globally significant agroforestry research in and for all of the developing tropics.

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