Thursday, August 17, 2006
Xinhua
Three Belgian police officers who were detained on Tuesday in Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia, were released on Wednesday afternoon, VRT news reported.
The three had just finished escorting a failed asylum seeker back there, when they were detained.
The authorities there claimed that the three Belgian police officers did not have the correct visa to enter Somaliland.
The police officers had flown into Somaliland on Tuesday morning, landing at Hargeisa Airport.
They were to have returned straight away, after ensuring that the asylum seeker was safely returned to his homeland.
However, the three were taken from the aircraft and detained, while the asylum seeker was put back on the plane.
The Belgians had to hand over their passports and plane tickets before being taken to a hotel, where they stayed under house arrest, said VRT news.
They were released after the Belgian embassy in Kenya exerted pressure on the authorities in Somaliland.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate on the Gulf of Aden, became part of the newly-independent state of Somalia in 1960.
The region declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, after the fall of the Somali dictator Siad Barre. But its statehood is not recognized by the international community.
Souce: Xinhua, Aug 17, 2006
