Joshua Meservey, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, advocated in a recent policy paper that the United States recognize Somaliland as an independent state. This serious proposal is overdue for consideration. Meservey recounts that Somaliland ended its voluntary union with Somalia in May 1991 and has been governing itself successfully for 30 years. Somaliland has held competitive elections—accompanied by peaceful changes of government—and has a military, constitution, flag, and passport. Its deep-water port of Berbera is being developed by Dubai Ports World and is rapidly gaining capacity. Somaliland lies just east of Djibouti and south of Yemen on the Gulf of Aden and abuts the strategically important Bab-el-Mandab Strait. Meservey argues correctly that recognizing Somaliland’s independence would provide the U.S. military a much-needed alternative to Djibouti and diminish the Chinese threat to U.S. facilities, personnel, and operations there. Such a move would also provide the United States and others with a stable, functioning, peaceful partner in a war-torn region and strengthen Somaliland’s democratic governance and economy. Meservey also identifies numerous potential downsides to U.S. recognition. He lists Chinese hostility towards Somaliland over the latter’s relationship with Taiwan and likely refusal to seat it in the United Nations; Somalia’s ire at the U.S. having formally broken up the country; consternation from other African states that the move would spur more secessionist movements; and the possibility that Somaliland might fail as has South Sudan (and arguably Eritrea). Both he and I see this latter outcome as unlikely. Nor do we believe Somaliland’s unique situation would boost the argument of any other African secessionist movement. There is a course that would, if successful, achieve for the United States all the benefits of recognizing Somaliland without any of these downsides: The United States should work with African and non-African states to persuade the African Union to lead the process to resolve Somaliland’s status. The African Union has the mandate and legitimacy to address the issue and to act authoritatively in the eyes of Africans and the international community. The African Union took up the issue in 2005 by sending a fact-finding mission to Somaliland. The official summary of its findings is very favorable towards Somaliland’s claims, asserting, “Somaliland's search for recognition [is] historically unique and self-justified in African political history,” and it urges the AU to take up the issue with the governments in Mogadishu and Hargeisa without delay. The African Union did not act on that report and has played little role since then. Now, 16 years later, it is the time for the African Union to act. The United Nations is the world’s preeminent forum on the issue of national sovereignty, by its decision to accord or deny membership to a petitioning state. Applicants need a favorable vote from the Security Council and the support of two-thirds of the General Assembly. Besides considering their own interests and the merits of the case presented, countries look to the position of the relevant regional body, in this case the African Union. If accepted into the African Union or even with a favorable recommendation, Somaliland would probably be allowed to join the United Nations; without the AU’s endorsement, it is unlikely to gain membership. China could be expected to thwart Somaliland’s admission as long as it maintains close ties to Taiwan, but this is a matter for Somaliland to manage. To determine whether the United Nations should even consider Somaliland’s case, the African Union should do four things to clarify the issue:
- Organize a new fact-finding mission to familiarize African leaders and officials with the current situation in Somaliland.
- Give the Federal Government of Somalia a deadline by which to begin AU-sponsored negotiations with the Republic of Somaliland over its status and the relationship between the two entities.
- Lead the Somalia-Somaliland negotiations and require the parties to participate in good faith and agree on an outcome by a date certain.
- Announce that if the parties fail to reach an agreement the African Union will make public its views on which party was more responsible for the breakdown and make a recommendation to the Assembly of the African Union on next steps.
Authors
- Published in
- United States of America