Monday August 15, 2022
Hargeisa (HOL) - An American delegation of former state department officials, diplomats and military personnel met with Muse Bihi, the President of the breakaway region of Somaliland, in Hargeisa on Saturday for an unofficial visit.
The visit comes as Hargeisa and other cities in the autonomous region have been rocked by violent political protests that claimed the lives of at least five people and were seriously wounded.
According to local media and the president's office, Bihi briefed the delegation on Somaliland's political and economic developments.
"The President Bihi gave the delegation general information about the progress made by the country and the cooperation of the people and the successive governments that were transferring the power of the government to the democratic system," his office said in a press statement.
The delegation included Mr. Tibor Nagy, the former US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Ambassador J. Peter Pham, the former US Ambassador to the Sahel region in West Africa, General William "Kip" Ward, the former Commander of US Forces in Africa (Africom), and Mr. Joshua Meservey, an African and Middle Eastern politics expert from the Heritage Foundation.
It is believed that Bihi met officials from the Biden administration, but his office remained tight-lipped about his travel schedule while in the US.