A ship docks at the Berbera Port in Somaliland. Economically, Somaliland offers what investors claim to want: stability, predictability, and the rule of law.
When assessing potential partners in fragile regions, policymakers typically ask: can this government maintain security? Does it control its territory? Are its institutions functioning? Has it demonstrated stability over time?
For Somaliland, the answer to each question is yes — and has been for three decades. Yet the international community continues to treat it as a complication rather than an asset. This is strategically wasteful.Having spent over four decades in diplomacy and national security, I like to think I can see when states are failing, and when, despite the odds, they are performing.
During a recent visit to Hargeisa, I witnessed firsthand what the data already confirms: Somaliland has built functioning institutions, maintained effective governance, and sustained stability in one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Local leaders spoke with justified pride about what they have achieved without international support or recognition. Their success is measurable, sustained and strategically valuable. Yet the wider world, and especially Western governments, continue to treat Somaliland as though it were a diplomatic puzzle rather than a capable partner, opening up opportunities to others, notably China.
Ignoring this success story is actively harmful to regional security and development. The Horn of Africa would clearly benefit if Somaliland were given a seat at the table — in security forums, trade initiatives, and development partnerships — based on what it has achieved.
Somaliland offers precisely what the region needs most: effective security governance. Al Shabaab operates freely in southern Somalia, has launched attacks in Kenya, and has attempted infiltration across the region. It has failed completely in Somaliland.
For thirty years, Somaliland’s security forces have maintained control of borders, disrupted extremist networks, and prevented the governance vacuum that terrorists exploit. This success stems from accountable institutions, community engagement and professional security capacity. The example of Somaliland demonstrates that when governance works, extremism struggles to take root.
The country’s strategic location amplifies its value. Somaliland controls 850 kilometres of Red Sea coastline at a time when maritime security in the region has deteriorated sharply.
Berbera Port, recently modernised with $442 million in investment from DP World, offers operational efficiency that rivals or exceeds regional competitors.The World Bank’s 2023 Port Performance Index ranked Berbera ahead of Djibouti and Mombasa.
Ethiopia, with 115 million people and no coastline, is building a trade corridor to access it. This represents functioning infrastructure serving a regional economy.
Economically, Somaliland offers what investors claim to want: stability, predictability, and the rule of law. The population is young and entrepreneurial, with nearly 70 percent under the age of 30.
Natural resources remain largely undeveloped, from minerals to fisheries to renewable energy potential, particularly solar and wind. Industrial zones in Hargeisa and Berbera provide modern infrastructure for agro-processing, textiles, and light manufacturing. Private investors and development banks have recognised this.
The question is why diplomatic policy lags so far behind commercial reality.The current approach — where Somaliland is quietly engaged but officially marginalised — produces specific harms. Investor uncertainty persists despite solid fundamentals, because diplomatic ambiguity creates perceived risk that does not match actual governance quality.
Security cooperation happens sporadically rather than systematically, limiting intelligence sharing and operational coordination that would benefit the entire region. Development funding flows to less effective partners based on diplomatic status rather than delivery capacity or results.
Regional initiatives exclude a demonstrably capable contributor. Trade frameworks, security dialogues and development programmes operate as though Somaliland does not exist, weakening their effectiveness.The African Continental Free Trade Area, for instance, would benefit from including a territory with functioning port infrastructure and cross-border trade links, yet Somaliland remains sidelined.
Perhaps most damaging, the current policy creates perverse incentives. Territories that maintain stability receive less attention and support than those that collapse into crisis.
This rewards failure and ignores success, exactly the opposite of what effective policy should do.
In counter-terrorism especially, we pour billions into contexts where governance has failed, while ignoring places where it works. This approach is strategically incoherent.
Engagement does not require resolving sovereignty questions or formal recognition. It requires treating Somaliland according to its actual capabilities: as a territory with effective governance and valuable strategic assets.
Concretely, this means formal bilateral development partnerships based on delivery capacity rather than diplomatic status.
It means security cooperation agreements that recognise Somaliland’s proven counter-terrorism record and border control capability. It means private sector trade and investment frameworks that provide the same certainty offered to comparable jurisdictions.
It means development bank access determined by governance quality and project viability, not by political considerations unrelated to institutional capacity.
It means including Somaliland in regional forums where it has relevant expertise and contribution such as in maritime security, trade facilitation, counter-terrorism coordination. None of this requires special treatment. It simply requires treating a capable partner normally.
The Berbera Port expansion demonstrates what practical engagement achieves. DP World’s investment, supported by Ethiopian trade interests and regional development priorities, has created infrastructure that serves the wider Horn.This happened because commercial logic prevailed over diplomatic fiction. The same approach could apply to energy development, industrial zones, fisheries management, security cooperation, and trade policy.
In a region where stability is scarce, extremism is real, and economic development is urgently needed, ignoring a proven partner is negligent.
Somaliland has maintained peace while Somalia has struggled through repeated crises. It has conducted six peaceful transfers of power, whereas neighbouring states have seen coups and contested elections. It has built institutions that deliver security and services, while others have collapsed.Three decades of evidence demonstrate that Somaliland has the capacity for serious engagement. The question is how much longer policymakers will allow diplomatic categories to override strategic reality, and what opportunities will be lost, or handed to others while they hesitate.
Somaliland has proven itself an asset. The international community should start acting accordingly.
The Lord Darroch of Kew KCMG is a current member of the House of Lords.
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