BOSASO – Somalia’s semi- autonomous state of Puntland president, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has on Monday defended the relations between United Arab Emirates and Puntland during press conference held outside Bosaso town.
President Mohamed says he had requested from United Arab Emirates to continue supporting Puntland Maritime Police Forces.
“I apologize for “any mistakes that happens”. “There is no better replacement to UAE support,” he said.
He also stated that his region has security cooperation with United Arab Emirates on terrorism, piracy and human trafficking.
President Mohamed has vehemently denied Thursday’s reports regarding UAE trainers at Bosaso Airport, describing those reports as ‘absurd ones’.
Somalia government hinted it could release up to $10 million seized from UAE-registered plane on April 8 in an apparent softening of position towards the Gulf country.
However, UAE has decided to disband its military training programme in Somalia which started in 2014 in protest of the incident at Mogadishu airport.
With reporting Abdirisak Mohamud Tuuryare from Mogadishu, Somalia
