The president of Somaliland Republic Muse Bihi Abdi has appealed to the international community to recognise his country.
Speaking in Washington on Monday, Muse Bihi Abdi, admitted that negotiations with Somalia had failed and that he would be pressing ahead with efforts towards international recognition.
The president with an official visit to the United States pointed out that Somalia has used the dialogue to pursue policies aimed at weakening Somaliland’s independence by “demonstrating complete lack of interest in meaningful dialogue”.
“Given that there has been no progress over the last ten years since the dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia started, Somaliland believes that the dialogue had failed to achieve its objective”, said the president speaking at a special address at Heritage Foundation. The event is titled with ‘The Great Promise of Closer US-Somaliland ties’.
Pointing out the reason for dialogue failure, the president said, “The reasons for the failure lies entirely with Somalia’s efforts to undermine the dialogue process as demonstrated by its harmful actions, willful disregard of the agreements made and its intransigences.”
Muse Bihi Abdi appealed for that “the international community has a moral obligation to support Somaliland’s pursuit of international recognition”.
Despite not being recognised, Somaliland has kept its own independent government, currency and security system since reclaiming its independence from Somalia’s union in 1991.
The peaceful and democratic Somaliland has largely succeeded in holding regular elections over the years, including parliamentary polls held last year further highlighting Somalia’s failure to hold one-time selection other than election.