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URU Alm.del Bilag 265

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The recognition of Somaliland

A brief history
• After conciusion of treaties between Great Britain and the various Somaliland dans in the early
1 880s, the Somaliland Protectorate was proclaimed in 1887. The international boundaries of the
Protectorate were delineated by treaties with France (Djibouti) to the west in 1888, Ethiopia to the
south in 1887 and Italy (Somalia) to the east in 1894.1

• On 26 June 7960, Somaliland became an independent, sovereign state, known as the State
of Somaliland. As in alI the countries which were decolonised in 1960, the State of Somaliland
immediately received congratulatory telegrams2 from 35 countries, inciuding alI five permanent
members of the UN Security Council welcoming its sovereignty.3 This was the practice in which rec
ognition4 was extended to new decolonised states. As an independent state, the State of Somalil
and entered into various treaties with the UK.

• Five days after independence, on 1 July 1960, Somaliland chose to unite with Somalia with the
aim of creating a “Greater Somaiia” bringing together ali the people of ethnic Somali origin in
five countries in the Horn of Africa including Northern Kenya, Italian Somalia, French Somaliland
and Eastern Ethiopia.5

• The agreed formalitïes of a treaty of union to be entered into by both Somaiiland and Soma
ha were flot completed properly. The version passed as a Law by the legislature of the State
of Somalliand was flot passed by the Somalia Legislature. A different single Act of Union was
iater passed by the National Assembly in 7967. A legal expert commented that the legal validity of the
legislative instruments establishing the union were “questionable”.6

• The people of Somaliland had no say in the making of the constitution of the new Somali Re
public. In the majority of the districts in Somaliland the referendum on the constitution held on 20
June 1961 was largely boycotted7 and, in sharp contrast to the Somalia regions, in the vest majori
ty of Somaliland regions, the constitution was rejected.

1. The Anglo-French Treaty of 1888; the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897 and the Anglo-Italian Protocol of 1894.

2. These included, for example telegrams from us Secretary of State Herter, which were addressed to “their excellencies, Council of
Ministers, Hargeisa”. A congratulatory message to a new state for obtaining sovereignty is tantamount to recognition.

3. There were three treaties between Great Britain and the State of Somaliland, which were deposited with the UN in line with the
practice of international treaties. The treaties were also reterred to in the SomalilandlSomalia Act of Union ot 1961.

4. A congratulatory message to a new state for obtaining sovereignty is tantaniount to recognition C’ama]i N — What is meant by state
recognition International Law? available at http://www.justice.gov. tr/e-journa//pdf/LW7087 .pdf)
—

5. Cotran E (1963). Legal Problems Arising Dut of the Formation of the Somali Republic, International and Comparative Law
Quarterly, 12, pp 101 0-1026

6. It was estimated that fewer than 17% of those eligible to vote took part J. Drysdale, Somaiiland: The Anatomy of Secession,
-

(London: Haan Associates, 1991)

7, United States Department of State Dispatch, 1990 Human Rights Report: Somalia, (1991); Africa Watch Committee, Somalia: A
government at war with ts own people, (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1990), pp. 126-131

Presidency, Hargeisa, Somaliland [email protected] 2

• The early years of the union saw the steady political and economic isolation of former Somalil
and and its main towns, with political and military positions being awarded disproportionately to
“southern” Somalis. The 1961 an attempted coup by a group of highly qualified Somaliland military
officers was an indication of the disenchantment with the union that Somaliland had entered into.

• After assuming power in a military coup in October 1969, Mohamed Siad Barre led a brutal
military dictatorship, marked by widespread human right abuses. The growing discontent with
and oppression by Barre’s leadership led to the formation of an opposition group, the Somali
National Movement (SNM) in the North (Somaliland) in 1981.

• In response to growing opposition, the Barre regime waged a targeted war on the north
(Somaliland), killing an estimated 50,000 civilians and dispiacing an estimated 500,000 people.8
Northern towns such as Hargeisa and Burao were shelled and bombed. Government forces also laid
over a million unmarked land mines in the north.9 Human Rights Watch described the Barre regime
as “a government at war with its people”.10

• With the formation of armed opposition groups in Mogadishu and its surrounding regions in
the late 1 980s, the Barre regime finally collapsed and on 27 Jafluary 1991, Barre fled Mogadi
shu. Groups in Mogadishu initially attempted to form their own governments without any consultation
and the country sank into a state of anarchy.

• On 18 May 7991, the various Somaliland communities met at a Grand Conference and decid
ed to re-assert Somaliland’s sovereigflty and independence. Leaders of the SNM and elders of
northern (Somaliland) dans met at the ‘Grand Conference of the Northern Peoples’ in Burao. The
Union with Somalia was revoked and the territory of the State of Somaliland (based on the borders of
the former British Somaliland Protectorate) became the Republic of Somaliland.

• Somaliland’s withdrawal from the union and re-assertion of its sovereignty did flot breach any
international law and at the time the UN Security Council saw no reason to interfere. After
a long period of persecution of the majority of the Somaliland population the people of Somaliland
withdrew from the union their representatives had voluntarily entered ifl 1960.

• Using indigenous peace-making procedures, the various Somaliland communities held a con
siderable number of local meetings and national conferences to re-establish the peace be
tween the different communities and lay the foundations for local security and

8. United States Department of State Dispatch, 1990 Human Rights Report: Somalia, (1991); Africa Watch Commiffee, Somalia: A
government at war with its own people, (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1990), pp. 126-131

9. Africa Watch Commfttee, $oma/ia: A government at war with its own people, (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1990), pp. 126-131

10. bid.

11. ndeed, the International Court of Justice decided in the Kosovo case that unilateral declarations of secession are net by themselves
unlawful under international law.

Presidency, Hargeisa, Somaliland [email protected] 3

 governance, in tandem with state building and national governance.12 It is the understanding
arrived at in these meetings that have enabled Somaliland to establish peace and national gover
nance.13

• The development of the Somaliland constitution started with National Charter ifl 1993, fol
lowed by an Interim Constitution in 1997 and culminated in the adoption of a final constitu
tion in 2001. On 37 May 2007, 97.9% ot Somaliland’s population voted ifl favour of the new con
stitution in a referendum endorsed by international observers as free and fair.14

• Somaliland’s constitution establishes the separation of power between the three arms of
government, balances representative democracy with traditional governance institutions, ensures
the existence of active opposition political parties, a free and pluralistic media and fundamental
human rights and freedoms.

• Nation-wide local elections took place in 2002 and in 2012. Presidential elections took place
in 2003 and 201 0, and parliamentary elections ifl 2005. International and local observers have
stated that ali these elections were free and on the whole fair. in both cases the losing side accept
ed the outcome gracefuily.

• Despite the lack of international recognition since 7991, in large part due to the international
community’s preoccupation with establishing peace in Somalia, Somalilanders are confident
that they will achieve their rightful place within the community of nations. Somaliland has not
been a party to the recent changes in Somalla and has agreed to enter into discussions with the
new Somalia government with a view to reaching amicable agreements on future co-operation be
tween the two independent states and the settiement of ali outstanding issues of joint concern.

Further reading:

1. Ahmed H Nur, A short brieting paper: Does Somaliland have a legal ground for seeking international recognition? (2011)
2. Jama Musse Jama fed.), Somaliland: the way foiward, (Pisa: Ponte Invisibile, 2011), including ‘Recognising Somaliland:
Political, Legal and Historical Perspectives’, Mohamed A Omar
3. Mark Bradbury, Becoming Somailland, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
4. The Brenthurst Foundation, African Game Changer? The Consequences of Somaliland’s International (Non) Recognition —

Discussion Paper2Oll/05, (Johannesburg: The Brenthurst Foundation, 2011)

5. Peter Roethke, ‘The Right to Secede Under International Law: The Oase for Somailland’, The Journal of International
Service, (Fall 2011), pp. 35-47
6. Matt Bryden, Rebuilding Somailland, Issues and Possibilities, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003)

12. In its final overall study of the peace initiatives in Somaliland, the Academy of Peace identified 39 peace conferences and meetings
between 1991 and 1997 Peace in Somalfind: An indigenous Approach to State Building, APD, Interpeace, 2008. page 10. Available at:
—

http://wwwinterpeace.org/index.php/publications/cat_view/8-publications/12-somali-region?start=5

13. In contrast to Somalia where until 2012, numerous peace making conferences were held abroad with funding from the international
community, Somaiiland’s peacemaking conferences, which were concluded by 1997, were ali held in the country without the involvement
of the international community.

14. M.Bradbury, A.Abokor, H.Yusuf, Somaliland: Choosing Polltfcs over Violence, (Review ofAfrican Pohtica] Economy, Vol. 30, No. 97,
September 2003)

Presidency, Hargeisa, Somaliland [email protected] 4