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NAIROBI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil company DNO and other small explorers are destabilising Somalia, theAfrican country's petroleum ministry said on Wednesday, warningit may lodge complaints against these firms to the UnitedNations Security Council.
DNO has been prospecting for oil in Somaliland, a break-awayterritory of Somalia. The company did not respond to telephoneand email requests for comment but in July a senior officialsaid DNO would not engage in any activities that threaten peacein Somaliland.
Somalia has been riven by conflict for more than two decadesas rival warlords and Islamist militants have fought for controlof the Horn of Africa country.
The Somali Petroleum ministry said companies signingoverlapping oil contracts and striking deals with regionalgovernments were "adding fire to conflicts".
"These small companies are destabilising the country anddestroying the international community's effort to build thepeace and the security of the country," it added.
The ministry in a statement singled out DNO, saying thecompany is "planning to introduce armed militiamen in areasalready in conflict and thereby stoking old feuds which resultedin internal displacement and harming the innocent and the mostvulnerable people".
The ministry did not provide further details or any prooffor its accusations.
"We are warning those companies that the Somali governmentwill lodge complaints with their respective countries and theUnited Nations Security Council," the ministry added.
Around a dozen companies, including many multinational oiland gas majors, had licenses to explore Somalia before 1991, butsince then Somaliland and other regional authorities havegranted their own licenses for the same blocks.
Somali officials last months met representatives ofExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, andBP for the first time since 1991, the ministry said.
The government said it wanted the oil majors to provide atimeline for their return to Somalia.
East Africa is rapidly emerging as an exciting oil and gasprovince after discoveries in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania andMozambique.
But U.N. monitors in July warned Western commercial oilexploration in disputed areas of Somalia and discrepancies overwhich authorities can issue licenses to companies could sparkfurther conflict in the African nation. (Writing by Drazen Jorgic; editing by Susan Thomas)
