Somaliland Rebirth

Ensure security, democracy, good governance, accountability, transparency, justice, and carry out public sector administration reforms…

The governance system, established after the declaration of independence and strengthened during the Borama Conference, builds on a remarkable fusion of western-style democratic institutions of government and reliance on traditional leaders and forms of social and political organizations. The executive branch is headed by a directly elected president, while the legislative branch consists of an elected House of Representative and a Senate or House of Elders.

Key Needs and Priority Actions. Somaliland’s fairly well developed public Administration, reinforced by the continuing peace and stability, a budding democracy and a vibrant private sector, has achieved much but increased efforts are now needed to provide the underpinnings for sustainable and equitable poverty reduction, including improved service delivery and income earning activities. Most social economic indicators show Somaliland faring better than Puntland and South-Central Somalia. The second general priority of Somaliland– establishment of an enabling environment for poverty reducing sustained economic growth– focuses on the development of the country’s rich natural resources, judicious management of its environment, and strengthening of its weak infrastructure and financial services. The strategy is pivoted on supporting the already vibrant Somaliland private sector to strengthen the key economic sectors and broaden off-farm income-earning opportunities as essential foundation for reducing poverty.

Somaliand’s third priority: the deepening of peace, improvement in security and strengthening of good governance– is selected against the background of significant achievements the regions has already realized. Somaliland has established elements of good and accountable governance but further work is needed as part of the reconstruction and development efforts. This will ensure that progress so far made on internal reconciliation is consolidated, and the government is given the means to guide the implementation of this pro-poor program. In order to achieve a comprehensive socio-economic development of Somaliland, it is very important that the interventions in all of the three above-mentioned areas take into account the needs and priorities for women, to finally ensure a gender balanced society with equal representation of women in key decision making political and economic sectors.

Judiciary.  Somaliland is currently governed by three separate judiciary systems, which often operate in parallel.  Customary law (xeer) – the set of rules and obligations developed by traditional elders to mediate peaceful relations between competitive clans and subclans – was crucial in the above mentioned reconciliation process and still plays an important role, in particular as a dispute resolution mechanism. Secondly, the formal judiciary structures are fairly well developed, with a three-tiered system of Supreme, District and Regional Courts. Lastly, the religious shari’a law operates on the basis of the Quran.

Rebirth of Somaliland

Within months of the SNM victory, Somaliland appeared in its third incarnation. On 18 May 1991, a self-proclaimed independent Republic of Somaliland was announced. Since then, it has followed a very different trajectory from southern Somalia.

After Civil War & Reconstruction of the nation from 1991 until now: Somaliland had five presidents since it regains its independents in 199l May 18. The first president was Hon Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur 28 May 1991 to 16 May 1993; the second president was Hon Muhammed Haji Ibrahim Egal- 16 May 1993- 3 May 2002; the third president was Hon Dahir Riyale Kahin 3 May 2002- 27 July 2010; the current and the fourth president is Hon Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo from 27 July 2010 till Nov 2017. Hon Muse Bihi Abdi November 2017 till now.

Somaliland owes its modern day origins to the disposition of the oppressive Barre regime at the end of an extended civil war in 1991. The long war against Siad Barre‟s government came at a high cost to the northern regions of Somalia. When the SNM took control of the major cities of Burco and Hargeysa (the future capital of Somaliland) in 1988, the response by the Barre regime was swift. “Artillery and aircraft bombed the major towns into rubble and forced the displacement of roughly a million refugees across the border into Ethiopia. Isaaq dwellings were systematically destroyed, while their settlements and water points were extensively mined.” However, with its secession and declaration of independence in 1991, Somaliland had revived the colonial agreements. Article 2 of the Constitution of Somaliland deals with its territory, which is declared to be “inviolable, and not [to] be trespassed upon”. Accordingly, “the territory of the Republic of Somaliland covers the same area as that of the former Somaliland Protectorate and is located between Latitude 8° to 11’ 30’’ north of the equator and Longitude 42° 45’ to 49’’ East; and consists of the land, islands, and territorial water above and below the surface, the airspace and the continental shelf”. However, begs the question of what constitutes “the former Somaliland Protectorate”. As per the Constitution, the Somaliland – Ethiopia boundary runs for 463 miles, from at the 8° N. 48° E. (the tripoint of Somaliland-Ethiopia-Somalia) to Madaha Jalelo at the tripoint of Somaliland-Ethiopia-Djibouti boundaries. Somaliland was formerly the British Somaliland Protectorate (1884-1960) and, after five days as an independent country, on 1 July 1960 it formed a union with the former Italian Trust Territory of Somalia.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991, during the collapse of the Siad Barre Government. Formerly the British Protectorate of Somaliland, today’s Somaliland Republic is a nation that unilaterally declared its independence 28 years ago, after fighting with Siad Barre regime in Somalia who had bombed and destroyed its main cities and killed hundred thousand of its people.

Somaliland has its own political system, has held democratic elections, and has its own police force and defence force. The autonomous zone of Somaliland (approx 3.9 million people) is a comparatively stable and democratic entity in a deeply unstable region. The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors to Somaliland and benefits from an unrivalled bilateral relationship.

Despite these successes, Somaliland’s efforts to shake its secessionist label and gain international recognition have failed. At the time of the country’s secession, the international community was becoming increasingly concerned about the sanctity of the nation state. The US was engaging in the First Gulf War, which was premised on the sanctity of internationally recognised borders, and a few years later, events in the Balkans served to reinforce global concerns about the destabilising effect that the secession of minority groups throughout the world might bring. And nowhere was this concern more clear than in Africa, where arbitrary colonial borders often bear little relationship to underlying social and economic realities and persist due largely to intense international assertion of their importance.

As a result, the Somaliland government has never received international financial assistance. This is not to say that it does not receive any aid, only that the small amount of aid it receives is directly administered by local NGOs and aid agencies. None of the aid Somaliland receives is administered by the government or appears in the government budget (War-Torn Societies Project 2005: 100; Somaliland Ministry of Planning and Coordination 2008: 13).

Despite these terrible initial conditions and lack of foreign assistance, Somaliland has made extensive progress towards recovery. Its economy, which is built primarily around pastoral farming and animal husbandry, has largely recovered from the devastation of years of conflict (Bradbury 2008: 138-139). Somaliland has rebuilt many of the cities destroyed during Somalia’s civil war, and economic activity in much of the country is thriving. President Cigal tackled the issue directly in a public address on August 30, 1999, at Hargeysa’s Khayriya, linking the nature of Somaliland’s political system to its prospects for international recognition: We could only be accepted as a member by the world community if we move to a new stage of nationhood