Somaliland Offers U.S. Military Access To Port, Airfield In Exchange For Steps Toward Recognizing The Region As A Sovereign Country

Horseed Media/WSJ: Somaliland Offers U.S. Military Access to Port, Airfield as It Pushes for Nationhood   

Region is seeking to break from Somalia and sees Washington as potentially powerful ally. 

Somaliland, a peaceful corner of violent Somalia, is offering the U.S. military use of a seaport and airfield overlooking strategic maritime routes in exchange for steps toward recognizing the region as a sovereign country. 

Hoping to capitalize on growing U.S. concern over Chinese expansionism in Africa, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi is planning a March visit to Washington, where he is expected to explore American interest in using the facilities in Berbera. The city sits on the Gulf of Aden, a key route linking the Indian Ocean, Suez Canal and Mediterranean Sea. 

“The president would definitely welcome a U.S. presence and protection of the waterways,” Somaliland Foreign Minister Essa Kayd said in an interview.

“America should react very urgently,” Mr. Kayd said.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: In a region that is gripped by war, Somaliland is at peace. But its neighbors want to change that .... Is Ethiopia Preparing for War on Somaliland? (National Interest).

Somaliland Agrees To A UAE Naval And Air Base In Northern Port

(BBC)

BBC: Somaliland agrees to UAE military base in Berbera

MPs in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have agreed to allow the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to set up a military base in the port of Berbera.

Observers say the deal has proved controversial among Somaliland's neighbours in the Horn of Africa.

The UAE already has a military facility at Eritrea's Assab port for use in a campaign against Yemeni rebels.

It is part of a coalition that has fought Houthi rebels and imposed a naval blockade on Yemen since 2015.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and 40,000 wounded since then, according to the UN.

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WNU Editor: This base will probably be used in the war against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

More News On Somaliland Agreeing To A UAE Naval And Air Base In Northern Port

UAE to open second military base in east Africa -- Middle East Eye
Somaliland agrees to UAE military base in northern port -- AP
Somaliland agrees to UAE naval base in northern port -- The National
Somaliland Approves Naval, Air Base Deal with UAE -- VOA

Somaliland Celebrates 25 Years As An Unrecognised Republic

Maximilien von Berg, National Interest: A Very Unhappy Birthday for Somaliland

At 25, the unrecognized republic is left to struggle alone.

On May 18 of this year, Somaliland turned twenty-five. Yet the anniversary is cause for a bittersweet celebration at best. Peace has improbably reigned since this enclave of the Horn of Africa obtained de facto independence in 1991. During those two and a half decades, the world has forgotten this unlikely outpost of functioning government, which has run free democratic elections since 2003 embedded in the chaos of the failed State of Somalia. As a result, 3.5 million Somalilanders have been raised stateless, victims of a legal asterisk that shuts them off from the world and—by extension—prosperity.

The African Union, based in neighboring Addis Ababa, is reluctant to grant Somaliland recognition. The AU and Ethiopia fear to trigger claims to independence in Africa, but in particular in the Ogaden region, whose independence claims it has long sought to stifle. Ethnic Somalis live in the Ogaden region and an unrecognized Somaliland has the dual benefit of weakening Somalia—Ethiopia’s rival—and Somaliland, whose roads the Abyssinian uses paying minimal taxes to reach the port of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden.

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WNU editor: Over the years I have posted a few stories on Somaliland ... but I am also guilty of not giving it the recognition that it deserves. This lack of attention is understandable .... the world's focus is on the disasters and chaos that are happening around Somaliland. Hmmm .... maybe the world should change its focus.

More News On Somaliland

Somaliland Celebrates 25 Years of Self-Declared Independence -- VOA
Somaliland wants world recognition of its independence -- AP
Breakaway Somaliland dreams port will boost independence -- AFP
Somalia: Somaliland leader urges calm after deadly clan clashes in Sool -- Garowe
Somaliland's quest to enforce rule of law -- DW
The grand Oriental hotel: Life inside Somaliland's timeless treasure -- James Jeffrey, CNN
Somaliland's Livestock Trade Revives After Year of Drought -- RFI
Somaliland rises from the rubble, 25 years after 'independence' -- RFI
Inside Somaliland: the tiny African state battling for survival -- Irish Times
Somaliland's Search for Place -- James Jeffrey, Foreign Affairs
Somaliland: Making a success of 'independence' -- Mary Harper, BBC

Tensions Rising In Somaliland Ahead Of Vote

From Voice of America:

Escalating tensions ahead of a presidential vote in the self-declared republic of Somaliland are raising fears that a prolonged political crisis may give the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group, al-Shabab, the opportunity to spread its extremist ideology.

The associate professor of religious studies and Arabic at the University of South Africa, Iqbal Jhazbhay, says political bickering between the government and opposition parties in Somaliland is threatening to derail much-delayed elections there, scheduled for September 27.

Read more ....

More News On Somaliland

Former Somaliland Resistance Fighter: Arm Us, to Beat Islamists -- The Danger Room
Somaliland Advocate Vies for World Focus -- War Is Boring
US believes Somaliland deviated from the path to democracy -- Somaliland Globe
Somalia: Somaliland political crisis was avoidable -- Garowe Online
Democratic Vs Peace in Somaliland -- Somaliland Press

Not All Of Somalia Is A Mess

In Somalia's Break-Away Corner, An Oasis Of Stability -- Christian Science Monitor

The self-declared republic of Somaliland has elections, a strong economy, and zero tolerance for extremists or pirates. But no one recognizes it.

Hargeisa, Somaliland - At first glance, the dusty streets of Hargeisa look like much of the rest of Somalia. Traffic jams consist of the occasional late-model Toyota Corolla encountering a string of donkey carts or a slow-moving flock of goats. Roads, water pipes, and electrical power grids have been untouched for nearly 40 years, but the mobile phone system runs just fine, thank you.

But Hargeisa is not at all like the rest of Somalia, and according to its elected leaders, it is the capital of an entirely separate country: Somaliland – a country that no one besides the Somalilanders themselves recognizes.

Read more ....

My Comment: The same people .... but two completely opposite societies. One can spend an entire life listing all the reason on why this situation evolved like this.

Somaliland Strives To Stand Out In Troubled Region

From The L.A. Times:

The breakaway republic hopes to become Africa's newest state, wooing international support with state-of-the-art elections. But it faces the corruption, injustice and tensions endemic to the region.

Reporting from Hargeisa, Somaliland -- When it came time to register voters for a presidential election in Somaliland, this dirt-poor breakaway republic picked the most expensive fingerprint-identification technology available to prevent fraud.

Then it seemed everyone did their best to undermine it.

With many people using different fingers on a biometric scanning pad or other ways to fool the device, nearly twice as many as the 700,000 to 800,000 estimated eligible voters received voter cards. Under the new $8-million system, one polling station registered, astonishingly, nearly 14 times as many people as it had for a parliamentary election four years ago.

Read more ....

My Comment: This small country is not slaughtering its civilians or having a piracy problem as its south-western neighbor is currently going through .... and for that .... it is a success.

Breakaway Somali Region Stable As Brother Nation Unravels

From McClatchy News:

HARGEISA, Somalia — It might surprise you to learn that Somalia — that post-apocalyptic shell of a nation where Islamist insurgents, clan warlords and now pirates hold sway over a helpless government — has some nice parts, too.

In Hargeisa, a visitor can walk the asphalt roads at dusk and freely breathe the sharp mountain air. The street markets are busy and boisterous, and hanging out there isn't likely to get you killed. Cell phone companies advertise mobile Internet service and the good hotels have wireless hot spots.

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My Comment: While Somaliland may not be the beacon of a Western democracy .... it is sure as hell better than its neighbors.

Suicide Bombers Kill 19 In Somaliland Attacks: Police

Map of Somalia locating attacks in Hargeysa and Bossaso. At least 19 people were killed in three suicide car blasts in Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland. (AFP Graphic/null)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

MOGADISHU (AFP) – At least 19 people were killed in addition to the three bombers in three suicide car blasts in Hargeysa, the capital of the northern Somali breakaway state of Somaliland, police said.

Somaliland -- A Country In The Horn Of Africa That Is A Success

Somaliland seeks a little respect Free and stable, self-declared republic chafes at lack of world recognition

By Paul Salopek | Tribune correspondent
2:57 PM CDT, June 8, 2008

HARGEISA, Somalia — Somalia isn't supposed to be this normal.

Untroubled by petty crime, money changers in this quiet desert city leave their stacks of currency unattended—in piles the size of refrigerators — while they pray in mosques.

Earnest government officials, elected in what may be the cleanest voting in Africa, eagerly meet reporters in roadside cafes, a practice that would be suicidal in the violent south of the country, where occupying Ethiopian troops do battle with a ferocious Islamist insurgency. (Even more unusual, the officials insist on picking up the tab for camel-milk tea.)

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My Comment: Right in the heart of hell, we have a state that is not even recognized by the international community but functioning in a manner completely opposite from its southern neighbor. Maybe everyone should take a closer look at them, to see what they are doing that is right, and what are they doing that is wrong.