MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somaliland authorities in northern Somalia have agreed in general terms to the idea of hosting refugees from Afghanistan amid Afghan exodus following Taliban take over early in October this year.
A foreign ministry official of the breakaway Somaliland who spoke to AFP said that Hargeisa had entered into discussions with US officials about temporarily hosting Afghan refugees.
“We (in) principle agree… to host Afghan refugees for the transit period,” the official said, adding that the agreement was still at a preliminary stage, with technicalities still to be worked out and no date set for their arrival.
Could things go smoothly between US government and Somaliland, Hargeisa will be joining number of lists of Afghan refugee hosts.
Thousands of Afghans are fleeing the country after Taliban fighters announced early this month, they had entered Kabul and took control of the presidential palace.
The US government has also been in talks with Uganda about taking in refugees.
On Wednesday, a charter flight carrying 51 Afghans — including men, women and children — landed in the East African country, with more evacuees expected to arrive in the coming days.
The evacuations were in response to a request from Washington to temporarily host “at-risk” Afghan nationals who are in transit to the United States and other destinations worldwide.
The Taliban fighters declared the war in Afghanistan over, prompting tens of thousands to flee the fighters’ hard line Islamist rule.
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