Ambassador Bashir Goth, Somaliland’s representative to the United States, is a diplomat, journalist, translator, and media and corporate communications advisor. Goth spoke to a January 2 Middle East Forum Podcast (video) about Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland’s independence. The following summarizes his comments:
Because cultures differed and the power-sharing system “was unfair to Somaliland from the beginning,” its union with Somalia was ill-fated.
Somaliland, a British protectorate from 1884 until it gained independence on June 26, 1960, was one of five Somali-speaking territories in the Horn of Africa that dreamed of uniting the five states into a greater Somalia. Somaliland existed as a fully sovereign state for only five days before voluntarily merging with what is now Somalia to form the Somali Republic. However, because cultures differed and the power-sharing system “was unfair to Somaliland from the beginning,” it was an ill-fated union. As the unification was never ratified by the parliaments of the two countries, it was thus illegal.
In 1969, a military coup d’etat in Somalia saw the rise of a Marxist dictatorship of the country, and for close to three decades hence, it was a satellite of the Soviet Union. In the civil war that followed the overthrow, brutal bombardments of Somaliland by the Somali military government killed thousands and drove over a half million refugees to flee to Ethiopia. The struggle to free Somaliland, combined with the collapse of the central government in Mogadishu, resulted in the former’s liberation in 1991. The people of Somaliland reconciled peacefully, rejecting reunification and reclaiming their independence.
For the past 35 years, Somaliland has been “building our country, our democracy, our elections” while also preventing terrorism and piracy—all of which makes Israel’s recognition of Somaliland last month an achievement worthy of discussion in an international body such as the U.N. Israel was the first country to recognize Somaliland when the latter declared independence in 1960, and both countries share similarities in that they “were born out of trauma.” Israel and Somaliland also share similar histories in that each has established a democratic and free society in an often tough neighborhood.
There was pushback at the U.N. immediately following Israel’s most recent recognition of Somaliland, likely because the Jewish state’s move upended the groupthink status quo common within international organizations. It could also be due to the fact that Somaliland, a successful role model for democracy and a free market economy in the Horn of Africa, has not just survived but has also thrived without any U.N. aid or support.
An Israeli base in Somaliland would serve as a counterweight to Turkey’s military presence at its base in Somalia.
The strategic advantages for both Israel and Somaliland will become more apparent following the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the two countries. An Israeli base in Somaliland would serve as a counterweight to Turkey’s military presence at its base in Somalia. It would also lay the groundwork for addressing the Houthi attacks on shipping that transits the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. “There’s nothing that can stop us from having a security cooperation or security pact” with the freedom of “two sovereign states who have the right to make agreements on all fields.”
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland also enables it to counterbalance competing powers in the Horn of Africa. During the Cold War, the U.S. and USSR competed in the region. Today, among the Western powers’ rivals in the region is Turkey, whose presence and influence in Somalia stem from its ambition to revive the Ottoman Empire in the greater Middle East. Ankara not only owns Somalia’s resources, airports, and ports, but it also has “the largest military base outside Turkey” in Mogadishu.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) already enjoys relations with Somaliland. The UAE has invested $400 million to expand Somaliland’s Berbera Port as a maritime hub for the Horn of Africa. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has a military base in Berbera as part of the constellation of strong economic, cultural, political, and security relations between Somaliland and the UAE.
China is partnered with Turkey and Somalia, and Saudi Arabia and Egypt are aligning with that bloc. Beijing interferes in Somaliland’s internal affairs because of the relations Somaliland established with Taiwan nearly six years ago. Although unsuccessful, China pressured Somaliland’s government in an effort to see it “destroyed so that they can bring it back to the union” with Somalia. Beijing “see[s] Somaliland as Taiwan” by projecting its single China policy treatment of Taiwan onto its view of Somaliland vis a vis Somalia.
A recently signed agreement of cooperation between Somaliland and Puntland is a promising break from the pack, with agreed cooperation on counterterrorism. It marked the first time a federal member state of Somalia “recognized the right of the people of Somaliland for self-determination.”
Somaliland is “on the side of freedom and democracy, and that’s where we will stay, and that’s where we will have our future.”
The regional power struggle strengthens dictatorships like the Islamic Republic of Iran and threatens the democracies in the region that stand against “tyranny and terror.” The bloc of allied countries including the U.S., Somaliland, the UAE and now Israel challenges the Turkey/China/Somalia bloc in the Horn of Africa. Good security relations between Somaliland and the U.S. are in place “as AFRICOM [U.S. Africa Command] is already on the ground in Somaliland” training forces. The U.S. support for Jerusalem’s recognition of Somaliland as Israel’s “sovereign right to practice their diplomatic policy the way they like” gives the recognition legitimacy. Hopefully, President Trump will assess the “geo-strategic importance of Somaliland for a free world like the United States” and support democracy by recognizing Somaliland.
Somaliland anticipating its full participation as a member of the Abraham Accords. Two years after the accords were signed, Somaliland became an unofficial member, dubbing itself “Abraham Accords Plus.” Somaliland, a Muslim country with Islam as its constitutionally established state religion, sees no contradiction between its democratic governmental system and the Islamic faith because the country was always democratic and free. Somaliland is “on the side of freedom and democracy, and that’s where we will stay, and that’s where we will have our future.”
