Hargeisa, (HargeisaPress) — Somaliland, a long existing and yet unrecognized state, hosts a celebration like no other. Seeing its streets filled with color and buzz, it is almost hard to believe that this autonomous entity was once part of Somalia.Somaliland: Seeking Recognition Somaliland’s fight beyond independence.
It has been 25 years since Somaliland declared itself an independent state, but the fight for recognition still goes on to this day. Socially and economically, the small state of 4 million people leaps ahead of its more dysfunctional neighbor, with an increasing flow of investments from the diaspora and multinationals, and a level of security that has been admirable, given its proximity to Somalia. The legality of the state’s secession from the larger Republic of Somalia is still under debate across multiple international platforms, but the case is more clear-cut to Somalilanders like Mohamed Ahmed Mohamoud, Executive Director of the largest Somaliland civil society policy platform the Somaliland Non State Actors Forum (SONSAF). Capital’s Tesfaye Getnet sat with Mohamoud on Somaliland’s Independence Day to understand the debate from the seasoned analyst’s point of view.
Capital: Politicians in Mogadishu say that Somaliland’s recognition claims have no historical or legal basis and that the entity declared independence without referendum. What would you say is the legal and historical basis for Somaliland’s recognition? Mohamed Ahmed Mohamoud: I think this is not true, because Somaliland became an independent country in 1960, when it constituted a union with Italian Somalia. Somaliland obtained its independence before Somalia, when 35 countries including the members of the Security Council recognized Somaliland on 26 June 1960. In the meantime, I would like to emphasize that the Republic of Somaliland is not seceding from Somalia but that the Republic of Somaliland dissolved the aborted union with Somalia in 1960; which was, if I may add, a voluntary union. The declaration of independence of Somaliland was actually timely, accurate and historical. When the Somali National Movement (SNM) defeated Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, all the clans inhabiting Somaliland, or the former Somaliland British Protectorate, unanimously voted for withdrawal and dissolution of the failed union with Somalia in 1960.
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