THT: Top leaders from Somaliland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, visited Washington last week to lobby the United States to recognize the territory’s independence, touting Somaliland’s stable governance and geostrategic location that they argued could be an asset for U.S. interests in the Horn of Africa.
The Biden administration made clear it had no plans to recognize Somaliland’s independence from Somalia during the visit by Somaliland’s president, Muse Bihi Abdi, and foreign minister, Essa Kayd Mohamoud. But in meetings on Capitol Hill, top U.S. lawmakers signaled that they wanted the United States to deepen ties with Somaliland, viewing the territory as a bastion of stability in an otherwise unstable region and potential bulwark against growing Chinese influence in East Africa.
“Even if it takes 100 years for recognition, we will still stand for our identity, we’ll still engage with everybody, and we’ll still dream of a day where Somaliland is recognized as its own country,” Kayd told Foreign Policy in an interview.
Bihi and Kayd met with senior officials in the Biden administration, as well as Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who stopped short of calling for Somaliland’s independence but who pushed for closer U.S.-Somaliland ties.
U.S. officials fear that recognizing Somaliland would upend U.S. relations with the federal government in Somalia, which cooperates with the United States on counterterrorism despite having only fragile control over some parts of the country, and would open the floodgates for other semi-autonomous regions in Africa to double down on drives for independence. They also argue that a U.S. recognition of Somaliland would severely damage Washington’s relations with other partners on the continent and the African Union, which does not recognize Somaliland.
