Somalia deports Chinese cyclist

2009-07-19 20:05

Mogadishu - Police in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland deported a Chinese cyclist who tried to cross the restive country as part of his worldwide cycling tour, officials said on Sunday.

The man, identified as Lee Yue Zhong, said he had cycled across 114 countries since beginning his worldwide tour in 1997.

He was detained by police at a checkpoint as he entered the Puntland capital of Garowe on his bike from the neighbouring breakaway region of Somaliland, said local police commissioner Abdirahman Haji Abshir.

"He told us that he spent almost two weeks between Hargeysa (in Somaliland) and Garowe, but we could not let him continue his trip for security reasons and we deported him to Djibouti," the commissioner said.

Zhong told reporters in the northern Puntland port of Bossaso shortly before being deported that he was disappointed with the police's decision to prevent him from crossing the country.

"It took me two weeks from Hargeysa to here and it was part of my long trip to tour continents worldwide, but they really disappointed me," Zhong said.

The Chinese cyclist, in his mid-50s, also said he had been planning to tour southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu under siege from an Islamist insurgency.

- SAPA