Somaliland and Djibouti make up

By our correspondent in Hargeisa Hussein Ali Nur

The autonomous Somali region of Somaliland and neighbouring Djibouti have agreed to normalise relations.

Last year the authorities in Somaliland strongly objected to Djibouti's role in setting up the Transitional National Government in Mogadishu, which is now a year old.

Relations then hit rock bottom earlier this year, when the Djibouti Government unilaterally closed its borders with Somaliland, following the confiscating and burning of cigarettes belonging to a prominent Djiboutian businessman by the Somaliland authorities.

Now, however, both sides are making up.

Deal

Somaliand's foreign affairs minister Abdihamid Garad Jama said that a six point agreement had been reached earlier this month when he and other senior officials visited Djibouti.

Somaliland is opposed to Somalia's President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan

According to the accord, the two countries have agreed to cease all propaganda and other activities that have damaged relations between them in the past.

They have also agreed to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and livestock between them.

A joint committee has now been set up to ensure that Somaliland and Djibouti enjoy friendly relations in the future.

According to the agreement, the two countries will also join forces against anything that threatens their security.

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, broke away from Somalia in 1991 and has repeatedly expressed fears of being dragged into the country's long-running civil war.