Monday January 24, 2022
JIGJIGA (HOL) - Somali state president in Ethiopia Mustaf Cagjar has welcomed the de-listing of the ONLF organisation as a terrorist group by the Somali cabinet joining similar sentiments by various Somali leaders.
"I strongly welcome the decision of the Executive Council of the Somali Republic to rescind an earlier decision to recognize the ONLF as a terrorist organization and hand it over to Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (Qalbidhagax)," Cagjar said following the decision by the Somali cabinet to delist ONLF.
President Cagjar also said that the previous decision to recognize ONLF as a terrorist organisation was an act of terror against the oppressed people of the Somali regional government, as well as a violation of the culture of governance, Somalia and Islam.
The cabinet declared Qalbi Dhagah a terrorist and ONLF a terrorist organisation on September 6, 2017, and subsequently facilitated his extradition to Ethiopia where he was held incommunicado for close to a year before his release on June 2018.
Meanwhile, leaders in Somalia have also welcomed the delisting of ONLF. “Labeling the ONLF a terrorist has shown a lack of independence in our foreign policy in recent times.
Today's reversal of that erroneous decision puts Somalia back on the path of neutral diplomacy. Congratulations to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet,” former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.