Somaliland: a window to the future
Jawahir Adam
November 21, 2006

A formal recognition of the self-declared independent state of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa would be just in principle and a boon to the region and the continent, says Jawahir Adam. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

The news from Somalia is dominated by gloomy reports of war and refugees, guns and suffering. Few, if any, discuss the remarkable self-declared independent state of Somaliland. As the Union of Islamic Courts seeks Somaliland's unification with Somalia, international recognition of the territory's claim to independence is needed more than ever, to secure a rare African success story.

Somaliland was once an independent state: the former British protectorate achieved independence on 26 June 1960 and was immediately recognised by thirty-three countries including the United Kingdom and the United States. After five days, on 1 July 1960, Somaliland voluntarily joined Somalia, a United Nations Trust Territory under Italian administration, which itself had achieved independence that same day, and together they formed the Somali Republic.

At that time there was support in Somaliland to create a "greater Somalia" that would include a number of distinct territories with varying histories: the then British Somaliland; French Somaliland (now Djibouti); the former Italian-dominated Somalia (most of today's Somalia), the Ogaden (Ethiopian-controlled, the spark of war between the two countries in 1997, and now the fifth region of Ethiopia); and what came to be called the Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya. These had all been created by the European colonial powers during the Berlin conference which partitioned much of Africa in 1884-85.

Somaliland and Somalia formed a union of the two independent territories through their elected representatives. Interestingly, however, the legal formalities were not fully completed, and the Act of Union, prepared by the legislative assembly of Somalia, was not sufficient to make the union legally binding. This means it remains without legal validity today. Furthermore, since the two territories had been individual colonial states for over sixty years, they had already grown independently, with distinct institutions, history and even culture.

Once partial unification was achieved, the territories' dissimilarities gradually became clear, though peace and stability continued until 1969, when a military junta led by Siad Barre, took over. His twenty-one-year rule was punctuated by crimes against humanity and massacres in Somaliland - which some observers say amounted to genocide - helping to provoke the collapse of the merger in 1991.

An overwhelming majority of the people of Somaliland voted, in free and fair elections, to withdraw from the union with Somalia, and declared an independent state on 18 May 1991. Somaliland has since implemented democracy with a multi-party system. It has also been stable and peaceful. Yet its request for independence has just about been ignored by the international community. Today, it is complicated further by the struggle for power between the Union of Islamic Courts (based in Mogadishu, and controlling much of the south of Somalia) and the transitional government (based in Baidoa). Will Somaliland have to be threatened by full-scale war for anything to happen?

The case for recognition

The case for recognition is strong. There are three main justifications. First, Somaliland was recognised as an independent, sovereign state within the colonial borders that existed on 26 June 1960. (Though the issue of the border with Sool and East Sanag region, which is disputed with Puntland, has yet to be resolved and requires negotiation. It is certainly hurting Somaliland's quest for recognition.)

Second, Somaliland's case is not a cessation of a land area incorporated in a sovereign state, but a voluntary withdrawal from the union between two countries that were once separate sovereign states.