Somaliland Central
What you need to know about Somaliland's SovereigntyMiddle Palaeolithic of Somaliland
80,000–50,000: Homo sapiens exit-road of Horn Africa as a single population. In the next millennia, descendants from this population migrate to southern Arabia and India, the Malay islands, Australia, Japan, China, Siberia, Alaska, and the north-western coast of North America. During time of the Toba super-eruption, the Haplogroups M and N were introduce from Asia to Horn of Africa as today Horn of Africa genetic is classified as M1 Haplogroups, but the diversification of Haplogroups L3 in Eastern Africa began early with out-africa theory of Homo sapiens. The other two main branches of L3, M and N, exist only outside Africa, except for some back-migrations into Africa around 50–30 ka in the form of haplogroups U6 and M1 (Olivieri et al. 2006; Pereira et al. 2010) and some more recent intrusions (Cherni et al. 2009; Ottoni et al. 2010). In human mitochondrial genetics, L is the mitochondrial DNA macro-haplogroup that is at the root of the anatomically modern human (Homo sapiens) mtDNA phylogenetic tree. As such, it represents the most ancestral mitochondrial lineage of all currently living modern humans, also dubbed “Mitochondrial Eve”.
Somaliland Prehistory:
Discovered in 2002 by a French archaeology team conducted by Prof. X. Gutherz, Laas Geel (Somaliland), is probably one of the most remarkable archaeological site in the horn of Africa. Located in an isolated arid region, it is made of natural rocky shelters on which hundreds of coloured paintings still remain in a particularly good state of conservation. The first studies achieved in the last decade confirmed that they are 5000 years old. Laas Geel (literally “water point for camels”) is located at the confluence of two often dry rivers, on the slopes of a granite rocky hill overlooking an arid shelf between 800 and 900 meters above sea level.
The Laas Geel cave paintings are thought to be some of the most vivid rock art in Africa. Among other things, they depict cattle in ceremonial robes accompanied by humans, who are believed to have been inhabitants of the region. The necks of the cattle are embellished with a kind of plastron. Some of the cattle are also portrayed wearing decorative robes. Besides long-horned cattle, the rock art also shows an image of a domesticated dog, several paintings of Canidae as well as a giraffe. The site is excellently preserved due to the location of the paintings which are covered by the granite overhangs.
Somaliland Land of Punt
The Land of Punt was an ancient kingdom. A trading partner of Ancient Egypt, it was known for producing and exporting gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory and wild animals. The region is known from ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to it. Most scholars locate the ancient Land of Punt in the Horn of Africa. This is based in part on the fact that the products of Punt, as depicted on the Queen Hatshepsut murals at Deir el-Bahri, were abundantly found in the region but were less common or sometimes absent in the Arabian Peninsula. These products included gold and aromatic resins such as myrrh, and ebony; the wild animals depicted in Punt include giraffes, baboons, hippopotami, and leopards. Says Richard Pankhurst : “Punt regions has been identified with territory on the Horn of Africa coasts. Consideration of the articles which the Egyptians obtained from Punt, notably gold and ivory, suggests, however, that these were primarily of African origin.”
Somaliland Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Periplus Maris Erythraei: 1ST CENTURY AD
In the Classical era, the city states of Malao (Berbera) and Mundu (Maydh- Xiis) prospered, and were deeply involved in the spice trade, selling myrrh and frankincense to the Romans and Egyptians. Somaliland became known as hubs for spices mainly cinnamon and the cities grew wealthy from it the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (written 1st Century AD in Koine Greek that describes navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice Troglodytica along the coast of the Red Sea) tells us that Somaliland was independent people and competed with Aksum Empire for trade, along the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, including the modern-day Sindh region of Pakistan and south-western regions of India.
The history of Somaliland is peculiarly different from the history of Somalia. Those who argue against the present state of independence and sovereignty out rightly ignore how Somaliland is historically differentiated from other Somali inhabited territories. Somaliland has an ancient history and civilization. For a long period in the past, Somaliland had well-established trade links with the rest of the world particularly ancient Egypt (the Pharaohs), the Romans, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian sub-continent. Commodities like hides and skins, frankincense and myrrh, ivory, gums, feathers were traded in exchange for consumer products such as sugar, tea, dates, clothes etc. It was uniquely the hub of spices trade (Frankincense and Myrrh). The trade links to the Middle East and East Asia existed via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean routes. For instance, between the 1th Century AD – 14th century AD, Chinese merchants frequented the coast of Somaliland and Egyptians had a long historical relationship with Somaliland.
Somaliland is referred to invariably by the ancient travellers as Berber Land, Punt Land, Coast of Spices and Land of Aroma. Coastal towns in the region such as Zeila and Berbera as Sanaag ports were in existence as early as the 1st century AD. A document, which dates back to that time, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written by a Greek merchant, gives an account of the commercial activities involved with the people in the coastal ports who traded with the Egyptians, Chinese, Persians, Indians and Arabs. Among the products described in the Periplus document and traded by the local traders from Somaliland included: spices, Myrrh, ivory, frankincense, gum and cinnamon. By the second century, Arab trading relations were quite well established along the Somaliland coastlines.
Somaliland Sultanates Empire Rise & Fall
Early 1st Century AD to middle 20th century, Somalilanders used Arabic language for trade & long distance communication until Somali language written officially became Latin alphabet in 1973. Islam was introduced to the Horn region early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila’s two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to about the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along Somaliland sea ports. Between the 7th and the 12th century CE, cities such as Seylac and Berbera on the Gulf of Aden served as trading ports in a region that the Arab Islamic world called bilad al-Barbar (“country of the Barbar”), Barbar (also Berber, Barbaroi) being a name for the Somali people of the region. Those medieval cities exported gums and resins, ostrich feathers. The Somali, who occupied those areas alongside other groups, had begun adopting Islam in the 7th century, and the religion became firmly entrenched in the centuries that followed. The occupants of the cities organized themselves into sultanates such as Adal, centred at Seylac.
Sultanate of Ifat
The Sultanate of Ifat was a medieval Muslim state in Somaliland of the Horn of Africa between the late 13th century and early 15th century, which the Sultan Empire rule for 130 years from 1285 to 1415.
The kingdom ruled over parts of what are now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland, but the capital city was centered in the ancient city of Zeila.
Adal Sultanate
Kingdom of Adal was a Muslim Somali kingdom and sultanate located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. The kingdom flourished from around 1415 to 1577. The state were established by the local inhabitants of Zeila, capital of Salel region, Republic of Somaliland. The Adal empire capital stay at Zeila around a century from 1415-1520 until it was moved to Harar city until its end at 1577. The Adal Empire maintained a robust commercial and political relationship with the Ottoman Empire.
Warsangali Sultanate
In the east of Somaliland, a different political dynamic existed. The Warsangali Sultanate under the Garad dynasty emerged, and rose to prominence in Eastern Coastal provinces by the late 13th century. Unlike the Adal Sultanate, which was a multi-ethnic Muslim kingdom coexistent with the Ethiopian Empire, the Warsangali Sultanate had an exclusively Somali constituency. The Warsangali Sultanate was centered in north-eastern Somaliland. The Sultanate was founded in the late 13th century in northern Somalia by a group of Somalis from the Warsangali tribe
Ottoman era
Beyond three millennia and 300 years, Zeila city port enjoyed trade with other countries and was home to Somali & Arab, Persian and even Indian merchants. After the fall of Adal Empire in 1548, the port city of Zeila was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The reason for this was that Zeila is situated in a strategic location on the Red Sea because it is near the Bab el Mandeb strait; a key area for trade with the East. The city of Berbera hosts numerous buildings from the Ottoman era. The Ottoman also built a drinking water system in Berbera around 1800. Egypt controlled Zeila and Berbera in 1869 and annex the Harari Emirate in 1875. These Egyptian endeavours of permanently occupying the Somali Coast had resulted in British Government objections quite instantly.
British Somaliland
As early as 1827, the British has signed a treaty of peace and friendship with Somalilander tribes, ensuring free trade. The British East India Company in the nineteenth century signed a series of trade agreements with local Somali chiefs in 1840 and 1856. Besides the Company, the British Government of India lay its eyes on the Gulf of Aden. Having established a garrison for British Indian troops at the Port of Aden, Yemen, in 1839, the British were in search of supplies of meat, which northern Somaliland could afford. This British interest in Somaliland was threatened when Egypt encroached into the Somali coast. In addition to the desperately needed supply of meat, the British were also concerned over the ports of Berbera and Bulhar. Pressured on all sides, the Egyptian control came to an abrupt end in 1884, creating a vacuum. Obsessed with permanently securing the supplies of meat and ensuring the safety of trade routes, the British have entered into various treaties with Somaliland clan chiefs of the Issa, Gadabursi, Habr Awal, Habr Tooljaala, Habr Gerhajis and Warsangali from 1884 to 1886. This way the Protectorate of Somaliland was reluctantly created in 1887.
Somaliland had long come to the attention of the British from their strategically vital base at Aden. The strategic importance of the area was to be further increased with the opening of the Suez canal in 1869. Not only did the seaborne traffic increase massively, but, Aden and Somaliland could be the effective choke point if it fell into the wrong hands. The area was technically under the control of the Ottoman Empire through its vassal state of Egypt. However, in reality the Egyptians paid little attention to the Ottomans, and the Somalis paid little attention to the Egyptians. Egypt would find itself under British control in 1882 when the British Army defeated the Egyptian army at Tel-el-Kebir. Officially, it was to be Anglo-Egyptian condominium but in reality, the British were the senior parties.
This British military presence would help cement official claims to the area around the horn of Africa. The French had a small colony at Djibouti.
Britain made legal agreements and international treaties with the French, Italy and Ethiopian Emperor through the Anglo-French treaty of 1888; the Anglo-Italian treaty in 1894 and Anglo-Ethiopian treaty 1897 respectively. Therefore, Somaliland as a British Protectorate had established borders as enshrined by those treaties delimiting its international boundaries with the neighbouring territories (the Ethiopian Empire, Italian Somalia in the South and the French Somali territory of Djibouti (presently the Republic of Djibouti). The borders of Somaliland at the present are the same as they were during its protectorate years, the same during its independence years from the British Crown in 1960 and same as they are today as the independent Republic of Somaliland.
Before the British formally occupied Somaliland, a series of agreements and treaties with the local chiefs and clan leaders preceded. Britain first made treaties with the different Somali local tribes in 1827, followed by others in 1840. Between 1884 and 1886 alone, at least six treaties and three supplementary agreements were signed with the elders of different clans. In all of them, Majesty’s protection was guaranteed. It is noteworthy to mention that a number of agreements were held on board of ships off the coast as the local people did not allow the British to land before signing any agreement. A system of indirect rule of Somaliland was first established.
But during the Dervishes movements led by the Sayed Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, there was a hindrance to freely invade the entire Somali region. After the end of the Dervishes struggle, another part of Somali-inhabited areas (Haud and Reserved Area), a vast area of grazing lands of Somaliland and its Somali population, were handed to Ethiopia by the British.
In the late 1920s, the first political organization (the Somali Islamic Association) was established in Aden by members of Somaliland origin in the diaspora for the purpose of promoting the discussion of the Somali community issues in Aden and question of the British rule in Somaliland. Members of those clubs dared to wage critics to the British administration. Further politicization of the clubs led to the formation of the Somali National Society (SNS). As nationalism grew, a wholehearted popular vision, converging aspirations and a strong wish of the people in the intention developed. The SNS underwent through development transformations and it finally changed to Somali National League (SNL) party.
Invasion Somaliland WW2
In World War 2, the Italians used their colonies of Ethiopia and Somalia to launch an attack and capture the British Somaliland. Somalia and Ethiopia was garrisoned by some quarter of a million Italian soldiers and invaded Somaliland with 40 000 soldiers. British forces entered from Sudan into Eritrea. These Two Indian divisions and six air squadrons were joined by a South African division and air squadrom sweeping up from Kenya. The isolated Italians put up little fight and so the Italian Eastern Empire collapsed.
Prelude of Independence Republic of Somaliland
In 1957 a Legislative Council consisting of 8 official and 2 ex-officio (British) members, 6 unofficial (Somali) members was formed in Somaliland though the Council was established two years earlier (on 10 February 1955) because the Somaliland Constitutional Order came in force two years later (in 1957). In 15 February 1960, Somaliland’s first democratically elected parliament. The Council consisted of 33 natives (Somalis) and 12 non-natives of English and Indian and Arab origins. The names of the 33 Somali MPs elected were: 1) Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal (Berbera); 2) Ali Garad Jama (Las Anod);3) Osman Garad Mohamoud (Teleh); 4) Abdalla H Farah (Widhwidh); 5) Mohamoud Yasin Sh. Muse (Odweyne); 6) Mohamed Bihi Shuuriye (Hargeisa); 7) Mohamed Yusuf Geedeeye (Ainabo); 8) Abdillahi Hussein (Ina Doobikoole) (Hargeisa); 9) Ali Mohamed Haji Abokor (Faraweyne); 10) Sh. Barkhad Awale (Gabiley); 11) Jama Abdillahi Galib (Ina Diirqadhaadh) (Salahley); 12) Ahmed-Keyse Haji Duale (Buroa); 13) Michael Mariano (Eil Afweyn); 14) Mohamed Ali Farah (Hiis); 15) Abdillahi Qablan Mohamed (Las Korey); 16) Sh Ahmed Mohamoud Dalmar (Erigavo); 17) Ibrahim Eid (Hudun); 18) Mohamoud Ahmed Salah (Jidali); 19) Haji Ibrahim Nur (Dila); 20) Yusuf Ismail Samatar (Hargeisa); 21) Abokor Haji Farah (Buroa); 22) Yusuf Kahin Ahmed (Las Dhure); 23) Sh Ali Ismail Yaqub (Duruqsi); 24) Isse Jama Mohamed (Qoryaley); 25) Haji Yusuf Iman Guleid (Berbera); 26) Haji Abdillahi Deria (Sheikh); 27) Haji Ibrahim Osman Food (Adadley); 28) Haji Aden Yusuf (Bulahar); 29) Ali Qowdan (Mandhera); 30) Sh Abibakar sh Omer (Borama); 31) Jama Ghelle Isse (Zeila); 32) Haji Muse Ahmed Shirwa (Abdulqadir); 33) Abdi Hassan Buni (Boon).
Towards the final years of the colonial period and in preparations for independence, legislative elections were held on February 1960. A number of political parties took part. The Somali National League (SNL) which originated from the Somali National Society (SNS); the National United Front (NUF aka NAFTA); and the United Somali Party (USP) participated in the elections. SNL won the elections with a sliding majority (20 out a total of the 33 seats contested); the USP party (12 seats) and the NUF party (1 seat). The first elected Legislative Council (Cabinet) were: Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal (First Minister); Garad Ali Garad Jama (member); Haji Ibrahim Nur (member); Ahmed Haji Duale (Ahmed Kayse) (member) and Haji Yusuf Iman (member).
On 6 April 1960 the Somaliland Legislative Council had a meeting (chaired by the Governor Sir Douglas Hall) in Hargeisa to discuss two items as agenda: 1) to discuss the independence of Somaliland and 2) the union with Italian Somalia. The two items were merged and discussed as a single item as they were closely related and because the concept of uniting all Somalis which was the main concern of the people. The two items were inseparable. Most of the constituent representatives especially the SNL members such as Mohamed Abdi Shuriye and Haji Ibrahim Osman Food (Basbaas) among others voiced strongly the union of Somaliland with Somalia. However, Philip Carl, a member of the council, despite understanding the emotions involved warned that there were other really important issues that needed to be discussed. Nonetheless, every other matter was overlooked in the session. The conclusion was the agreement to proceed to the union with Somalia.
The Somaliland delegation requested for independence. On 12 May 1959, a date was agreed and set for the independence of Somaliland protectorate to be on 26 June 1960. An agreement was signed on the day as an acceptable proposal. This date marks a historical time and a characteristic landmark for the people of Somaliland.
As the campaigns for independence of the British protectorate gathered momentum, the first Legislative Council, consisting of 6 Somalis and 8 British which was established in 1957, was increased to 33 elected official members in 1959. Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, as First Minister or the leader of the Council and led Somaliland to independence from Britain on 26 June 1960 as an independent state, with its own constitution and a government headed by Egal was formed. At independence, the last British Governor of British Somaliland Protectorate, Sir Douglas Hall, handed over the governorship to Osman Ahmed Hassan as the first native Somali administrator. British Somaliland Protectorate was granted as an independent country on 26 June 1960. That year was famous for the phrase “the winds of change” within the British Empire as it was used in a speech by the then British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Of the British colonies in the African continent, Somaliland became an independent state after Sudan (which became independent in 1956) and Ghana in 1957, while Ethiopia was never colonised. It was an imperial state. In its first session, the government of Somaliland voted for union with brothers in the South with an overwhelming majority. At last, with the independence on 26 June 1960 and unification with (Italian) Somalia on July 1, 1960, the Somaliland boundary ceased to be an international boundary. In fact, the boundary continued to remain as internal regional border between the Northern Regions (as Somaliland became) and the Southern Regions of the new Somali Republic.
Republic of Somaliland 26 June 1960
Declaration of Independence
Somaliland is granted independence by British government. Saturday, 25 June 1960 marked the end of 73 years of British regime in Somaliland. Fireworks and singing crowds marked the Independence of Somaliland and celebrations continued throughout the night. During celebrations a big electric sign on a hillside carried the message: “Long Live independence.” Mohammed Haji Ibrahim Egal took an Oath on the Quran as Prime Minister of the new nation of Somaliland. Nearly 1 000 British-trained Somali troops were handed over to him by the retiring commandant, Brig. Gen. O. G. Brooks.
On 26 June 1960, the former British Somaliland protectorate briefly obtained independence as the State of Somaliland.
Following the civil war that began in Somaliland in the mid 1980s and the subsequent overthrow of that country’s government in 1991, a government opposition group, the Somali National Movement call SNM, secured the region comprising the former British Somaliland. In May 1991, they announced that the 1960 federation was no longer valid and declared Somaliland to be an independent state, henceforth to be known as the Republic of Somaliland. Though not internationally recognised, Somaliland experienced relative stability, Somaliland government was able to rebuild much of all Somaliland infrastructure, which had been damaged by years of warfare.
In 2020, 29 years after breaking away from Somalia, Somaliland still was not internationally recognised as an independent country. Undeterred, the government held a referendum 2001, the results of which clearly showed that Somaliland’s inhabitants supported Somaliland’s claim of independence.
Two years after officially seizing control of Somaliland, the SNM handed power over to a civilian administration during the Borama Conference, which was a decisive four month gathering on the future of Somaliland. This was a monumental event akin to a grand Shir ‘Meeting’, and a rebel movement that had fought and endured the sacrifices of war voluntary gave up power. The conference also created a national House of Elders ‘Guurti’ consisting of 150 elders from all Somaliland clans, institutionalizing a role for them in the nation-building process. Those elders in turn elected Mohamed Egal as the new President of Somaliland. Egal was a true Somali statesman, having been the Prime Minster of Somalia from 1967 until Barre overthrew him in 1969. That previous experience of running a country proved highly beneficial for the nascent and unrecognized state of Somaliland, even though Egal’s personal views made him an interesting choice. However, under Egal’s stewardship, though not always steady, democratic, or peaceful, Somaliland undeniably made great progress. He retained power until his death in 2002, being re-elected by a national conference in 1997.
Egal helped transform Somaliland from a political system based on clans to a viable democracy accompanied with a functioning administration. In the meantime, Egal managed to get Somaliland’s economy functioning again by negotiating with certain clans to secure access to the port of Berbera. This also provided him with a source of government revenue to rebuild a civil service and demobilize militia groups. Yet Egal’s crowning achievement was the 2001 constitutional referendum.
Essentially, it was a referendum on Somaliland’s independence. Mohamed Egal provided a steady hand for Somaliland during a crucial period of its history. Yet as seen with the SNM before, good leadership was not restricted to one man. Nevertheless, constitutional processes were respected and the Guurti peacefully voted to install his vice president in power and hold new elections. This was a highly significant moment because it allowed for a peaceful transfer of power to a non-Isaaq (Dahir Rayale Kahin, the vice-president at the time, was of a minority ethnic group), and the elections that subsequently followed were considered to be “one of the most peaceful elections in Africa for 20 years. Somaliland was able to devise a unique system of governance that adapted traditions to modern day realties.
Chronologic Somaliland
Somaliland has a long history that goes back several thousands of years and beyond. Around 5,000-year-old, Neolithic paintings in Las Geel, near Hargeisa, the capital, show that Somaliland was home to the earliest civilizations in the world. Somaliland, as part of the Land of Punt was a major trading partner with ancient Egyptians as records during the reign of Sahura of the Fifth Dynasty around 2250 BC indicate. The coastal cities of Zeila, Berbera and Maydh were deeply involved in spice trade with the Romans. In the 7th century, Islam was introduced to Somaliland, and by the 13th century had a thriving Islamic sultanate, Adal, whose main port was Zeila. But, the modern history of Somaliland started in the 19th century as presented chronologically below:
1870 – The Egyptian flag was hoisted at Bulhar and Berbera, and Egyptian authority over Somaliland was recognized.
1884 – Britain occupied the former Egyptian Somaliland, where Egyptians were forced to withdraw from Somaliland due to the Mahdi Rebellion in the Egyptian Sudan.
Jul, 1887 – The British Somaliland Protectorate was established. Major A. Hunt of Great Britain, representing his government, drew up protection treaties with several Somaliland clans guaranteeing them military support, in case of attack from other neighbouring territories, which were occupied by other Europeans. As a result of these treaties, Great Britain sent its Consuls to the Somaliland coastal towns of Berbera, Bulahar, and Seylac.
Aug, 1940- Mar, 1941 – Italy occupied British Somaliland.
Apr, 1960 – The Legislative Council of British Somaliland passed a resolution requesting independence.
May, 1960 – the British Government stated that it would be prepared to grant independence to the protectorate of British Somaliland.
Jun 26, 1960 – British Somaliland protectorate obtained independence as the State of Somaliland. Mr. Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal who previously served as an official member of British Somaliland Protectorate’s Executive Council and the Leader of the government business in the Legislative Council became the Prime Minister of the State of Somaliland before the unification.
Jul 1st, 1960 – the State of Somaliland united with the Trust Territory of Somalia on its independence day to form Somalia Republic.
Jun, 1961– The majority (63%) of the people of the State of Somaliland voted against the unitary constitution in a referendum. Dec, 1961 – A group of army officers staged a rebellion against the government to reinstate Somaliland independence.
Oct, 1969 – The military toppled the civilian government in coup d’état.
Apr, 1981 – Somali National Movement (SNM) formed. Jan, 1991 – Somalia government collapsed.
Apr-May, 1991 – Burao conference was held in which Somaliland reclaimed its Sovereignty.
Jan-May, 1993 – Borama national Reconciliation Conference was held and the National Charter was adopted.
Oct, 1996-Feb, 1997 – Hargeisa Somaliland Communities Conference and an interim constitution was adopted. May, 2001 – The Constitution of Somaliland was overwhelmingly (97%) approved in a referendum. Dec, 2002 – Local municipal elections were held.
April, 2003 – First presidential elections were held.
Sep, 2005 – First parliamentary elections were held. Jun, 2010 – Second presidential elections were held.
Challenges and opportunities
The biggest challenge which Somaliland faces in the international foreign affairs arena is the task of securing recognition as a sovereign state. Somaliland has an indisputable legal case to be recognized. It fulfils all the requirements of statehood in international law including:
- A permanent population
- A defined territory
- A stable system of Government
- Capacity to enter into relations with Sovereign States
Somaliland comprises the territory, boundaries and people of the former British Somaliland Protectorate defined and delimited by the provisions of the following international treaties:
- The Anglo-French Treaty of 1888
- The Anglo-Italian Protocol of 1894
- The Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897
Somaliland’s declaration of independence is predicated upon these well-defined boundaries at independence, which is consistent with the Constitutive Act of the African Union (Article 4.b.), which affirms the Union’s “respect of borders existing upon achievement of independence. Somaliland’s borders upon achievement of independence were those of the British Somaliland Protectorate, not the Somali Democratic Republic. Somaliland’s independent status therefore represents the dissolution of a voluntary union between sovereign states, not an act of secession.
Somaliland has also its own:
- Constitution
- Currency
- Flag and
- Passport
Somaliland’s constitution stipulates a multi-party, pluralistic democratic system, with a presidential executive branch, a bicameral parliament and an independent judiciary. Since the approval of the constitution, Somaliland has held four successive peaceful, fair and free elections: one municipal, one parliamentary and two presidential elections. The absence of recognition creates a host of challenges which Somaliland faces, including:
- Lack of access to direct bilateral and multilateral aid
- Lack of access to international credit facilities
- Limited access to commercial services of international financial institutions
- Limitations on attracting direct international foreign investment
- In ability to participate in regional trade blocks and customs unions
- Travel restrictions on national passport
Somaliland has also opportunities and strengths:
- It has proven to possess the capacity and resilience to overcome enormous difficulties
- It succeeded in building peace and stability in a conflict prone region
- It established democratic systems and institutions
- It has been able to achieve remarkable progress in the last twenty years against the odds
- It is located in a very strategic location and can play a constructive role in ensuring regional security
