Somaliland - Foreign Relations

Foreign Relations

Somaliland has political contacts with its neighbours Ethiopia, and Djibouti, as well as with Belgium, France, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. On 17 January 2007, the European Union (EU) sent a delegation for foreign affairs to discuss future cooperation. The African Union (AU) has also sent a foreign minister to discuss the future of international acknowledgment, and on January 29 and 30, 2007, the ministers stated that they would discuss acknowledgement with the organisation's member states In June 2007, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held a conference with Somaliland's President Kahin, during which he was referred to in an official communique by the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry as the President of Somaliland, the first time that Somaliland has been officially referred to as a sovereign state by a foreign government. While this is not claimed as a move to official recognition by Ethiopia, it is seen as a possible step toward a unilateral declaration by Ethiopia in the event of the AU failing to move its recognition of Somaliland forward.

In early 2006, the National Assembly of Wales extended an official invitation to the Somaliland government to attend the royal opening of the Senedd in Cardiff. The move was seen as an act of recognition by the Welsh Assembly of the breakaway government's legitimacy. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office made no comment on the invitation. Wales is home to a significant Somaliland expatriate community.

In 2007, a delegation led by President Kahin was present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, Uganda. Although Somaliland has applied to join the Commonwealth under observer status, its application is still pending.

On November 27, 2007, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck of the ELDR, one of three main parties in the EU, mailed a letter to the then-EU High Representative Javier Solana, and to President Kahin of Somaliland, which called upon the EU to recognise Somaliland. In December 2007, the United States government discussed whether to back the shaky transitional government in Mogadishu or to acknowledge and support the less volatile Somaliland secessionists.

On September 24, 2010 Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, stated that the United States would be modifying its strategy in Somalia and would seek deeper engagement with the governments of Somaliland and Puntland while continuing to support the Somali Transitional Government. Carson said the US would send aid workers and diplomats to Puntland and Somaliland and alluded to the possibility of future development projects. However, Carson emphasized that the U.S. would not extend formal recognition to either region. The current UK Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham MP, met President Silanyo of Somaliland in November 2010 to discuss ways in which to increase the UK's engagement with Somaliland. President Silanyo said during his visit to London: "We have been working with the international community and the international community has been engaging with us, giving us assistance and working with us in our democratisation and development programmes. And we are very happy with the way the international community has been dealing with us, particularly the UK, the US, other European nations and our neighbours who continue to seek recognition.”

In 2011, Somaliland and the neighboring Puntland region each entered a security-related memorandum of understanding with the Seychelles. Following the framework of an earlier agreement signed between the Transitional Federal Government and the Seychelles, the memorandum is "for the transfer of convicted persons to prisons in “Puntland” and “Somaliland”".