Somaliland (SL) Politicians have been chasing international recognition since May 1991. The harvest of 35 years is Taiwan and Israel. How do we assess this achievement?
By Dr Abdillahi Sheikh Mohamed Walaaleye-
Taiwan is a rump state of Big China without UN recognition or by any significant country worldwide. Nobody dares to recognize it even the US or Europe to avoid China’s ire. Since the current US Administration may not much mind angering China, if we played our cards right, we could have gained some worthwhile concessions before we made the jump. Now all we get is a meagre development assistance and the enmity of a Super Power with a Security Council veto..
Secondly, we received just over a month ago a recognition from Israel a UN Member with strong alliance with the West especially with the USA. For a small Muslim Country even with a strong geopolitical position to recognize Israel stirs the wrath of both the Arab and Muslim World even from those who had such relations for decades: Turkey and Egypt. Again, the loss was greater than the gain because there was no political deal for the West to recognize us for accepting the Abraham Accords. Compare Morocco who obtained US recognition of its ownership of the Western Sahara
It is high time our Politicians understand that the recognition path passes only through Mogadishu. The World has never accepted the split of one State into two, especially in Africa, unless both sides are agreed on it e.g. Senegal/Gambia etc. We should start building better relations with the important elements in Mogadishu Society: Merchants, Elders. Politicians and Ulema. We should have started in 1991 but both sides were too weak to take any decisive action at that time. Also, many of our experienced Personnel in the ways and means of Mogadishu have departed the scene. After concentrated effort we should be able to bring to the Mogadishu Presidency a figure who genuinely believed that it’s in the best interest of both sides to separate legally and amicably
Meanwhile, we should refrain from any action affecting sovereignty including selling pieces of our land in pursuit of recognition.
Another opportunity squandered was the 2005 African Union’s (AU) high-powered, fact-finding mission led by the deputy Chairperson of the AU H. E. Patrick Mazimhaka. It came to a very favorable conclusion to Somaliland. However, the contemporary SL President sent a ‘letter’ requesting implementation of the Mission’s recommendations instead of dispatching a team of most experienced SL Diplomats to pursue the implementation of this favorable decision within the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.
If Mogadishu could not be moved after a reasonable period of years, our next move should be a diplomatic blitzkrieg of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa grabbing the narrative: Somaliland is one of the Eighteen (18) African Countries who wrested their Independence in 1960, The Year of Africa; we are bang in the forefront No.4 with (Somalia,1 July) two countries behind (Madagascar 26 June, D R Congo 30 June). The AU could run a plebiscite of the Somaliland population, if necessary.
After all is done, one should remember that a Country can prosper and be respected without World recognition. Taiwan is a shining example. With a Ten Million population, it has a higher GDP than the next 14 African Countries after the Big Four (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia).
