Somaliland President paid a public relations company to discredit the US support for Somalia

Somaliland Administration instructed FGS Global, a London-based public relations company, to send to the United States Government disinformation on the Laascaanood conflict. “I’m writing on behalf of the Republic of Somaliland’s Mission to the United States to provide an update on the ongoing situation in Laas-Anod, the capital city of the Sool region in Somaliland” wrote Joshua Gross, a lobbyist working for Somaliland.

Gross accused the Federal Government of Somalia of fanning the conflict. “As of today, more than 500 Somali Armed Forces members – formerly from brigades known as Haramad, Gorgor, and Danab – are fighting against the Somaliland government alongside al- Shabaab elements and militant groups” wrote Gross, whose spin betrays the common rejectionist outlook shared by Somaliland and Al-shabaab, two outfits against the sovereignty of Somalia.

The US-trained Somali forces liberated territories once controlled by Al-Shabaab. “The disinformation campaign of Somaliland through its lobbyists is aimed to discredit the US support for Somalia forces” said Hassan Ali, a retired Somali colonel in Mogadishu. Somaliland administration claimed that its forces shelling Laascaanood were fighting terrorists.

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi paid a public relations company “to discredit the US support for Somalia forces fighting Al-Shabaab.”