Foreign & Public Diplomacy

As far as most of the world is concerned, the Republic of Somaliland doesn’t exist. That’s inconvenient, because this nonexistent country now sits right next to one of the world’s most high-profile conflict zones, with massive repercussions for the global economy.

Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known by the nickname Irro, was in Washington in mid-September before heading to New York this week to make the case for the United States to recognize—or at least more formally engage with—the de facto state that, as far as official U.S. policy is concerned, is a breakaway province in northern Somalia.

As far as most of the world is concerned, the Republic of Somaliland doesn’t exist. That’s inconvenient, because this nonexistent country now sits right next to one of the world’s most high-profile conflict zones, with massive repercussions for the global economy.

Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known by the nickname Irro, was in Washington in mid-September before heading to New York this week to make the case for the United States to recognize—or at least more formally engage with—the de facto state that, as far as official U.S. policy is concerned, is a breakaway province in northern Somalia.

Somaliland has been making this case for decades. Formerly the colony of British Somaliland, the country was officially independent for less than a week in 1960 before merging with formerly Italian-ruled Somalia. After a war of independence sparked by dictator Siad Barre’s sectarian rule, which saw the devastating bombing of the capital city of Hargeisa, Somaliland redeclared its independence in 1991 but was not recognized by any other country.

Today, Somaliland is a de facto state with its own government, currency, and security forces. It’s also mostly (though not completely) stable and democratic, in stark contrast with Somalia, but it has little ability to negotiate with foreign governments and is cut off from global financial markets. Though there’s little threat of Somalia reconquering Somaliland at this point, the border remains unstable.

It’s only been in the past few years that Somaliland’s quest to be recognized by the world has started to pick up some steam, thanks in large part to the country’s location.

In 2016, Dubai-based company DP World agreed to develop a major regional port in Somaliland’s coastal city of Berbera. In 2020, Somaliland and fellow de facto state Taiwan agreed to establish representative offices in each other’s territories. In 2024, Somaliland signed a deal with Ethiopia to lease part of the country’s coastline to its landlocked neighbor, which prompted immediate regional backlash and, to Hargeisa’s disappointment, did not lead to Addis Ababa’s formal recognition of Somaliland’s independence.

But the biggest and most surprising development came last December, when Israel, seeing an opportunity for an ally on the opposite end of the Red Sea, just across from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, became the first country to formally........

© Foreign Policy