The Foreign Minister, Dr Mohamed A. Omar, attended a briefing at the Houses of Parliament in London on 23 May in which he talked about Somaliland’s foreign policy. The briefing was hosted by the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group and the Somalia and Somaliland All Party Parliament Group and was chaired by Alun Michael MP. The event was attended by members of both Houses and the Diplomatic Corps.
Dr Omar drew attention to the fact ‘that in 1960, Somaliland was only the second country in East Africa to achieve independence from Britain, after Sudan in 1956.’
The Foreign Minister went on ‘Following its rebirth in 1991, Somaliland has come a long way. Having asserted our independence, we went on to establish peace and stability, and to build a genuine democracy. With help from our Diaspora, we rebuilt the country after the disastrous civil war which the union with Somalia brought in its train.’
Listing the recent achievements of Somaliland’s foreign policy, Dr Omar noted that ‘Countries such as Turkey, Denmark, Djibouti, Ethiopia and the UK have, or are in the process of establishing, development or liaison offices in Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland, and more and more foreign diplomats and UN agents are seeing Somaliland as a routine stop on any visit to the Horn of Africa. This is a huge diplomatic achievement for Somaliland.’
‘Somaliland has increasingly asserted itself as an integral regional partner in the Horn of Africa, something that contributed to the recent proposal to make Somaliland an interim member of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD.’
The Foreign Minister went on to emphasize ‘we were treated as an equal partner on par with other African states at the London Conference on Somalia on 23 February. President Silanyo was given the courtesy of meetings with the British Foreign Secretary and International Development Secretary; he sat next to the Prime Minister of Qatar and the Foreign Minister of Yemen during the conference; and he delivered a speech which set out Somaliland’s views on how to stabilize Somalia. He also had meetings with several European leaders in the margins of the event.’
Dr Omar stated, ‘these developments show how Somaliland is making incremental, but steady progress along the road to being recognized as an independent state. I cannot say when the international community will finally recognize us, but I am certain that that day will come.’
Touching on relations with Somalia, the Foreign Minister said: ‘While we will never allow Somaliland to return to unity with Somalia, we wish our neighbour well, and stand ready to offer her advice and discuss matters of mutual bilateral interest on a basis of mutual respect and from our vantage point as a sovereign, separate entity.’
Speaking in the Houses of Parliament, Dr Omar mentioned Somaliland’s democracy: ‘we are justifiably proud of Somaliland’s democracy: it is one of the greatest achievements of the past 21 years. The presidential elections which took place in June 2010 were simply the latest in a series of several internationally-monitored elections.’
The Foreign Minister thanked Britain for its development assistance: ‘The UK provided more than £14 million in aid to Somaliland in 2011, and that assistance is set to increase. I would like to acknowledge my deepest appreciation for that support.’
Dr Omar concluded, “the past year has been unprecedentedly busy for Somaliland’s foreign policy. Our international profile is much higher than it was before, and we have shown that we meet the basic criteria for statehood –a permanent population, a functioning government, defined borders, and the capacity to enter into relations and treaties with other states. We are making incremental progress towards recognition, but our foreign policy is more than that: we are also promoting closer economic ties with our neighbours, encouraging more foreign direct investment, collaborating in regional and international efforts to combat piracy, terrorism and jihadism, and offering our views on how to stabilize Somalia, which is a new addition to our foreign policy aims.”