For more than three decades, the Republic of Somaliland has existed in a diplomatic limbo that defies both legal logic and geopolitical reality. While the international community continues to treat Somaliland as a regional anomaly—an unrecognized entity tethered to Somalia—facts on the ground tell a very different story. Somaliland is not a failed secessionist experiment. It is a functioning state whose continued exclusion increasingly undermines regional security, democratic norms, and international credibility.

The reluctance to recognize Somaliland has long rested on a single concern: preserving Somalia’s territorial integrity. That concern, while understandable in the aftermath of African decolonization, has hardened into dogma. Today, it obscures a more important question: whether international recognition should reflect legal principles and empirical realities or remain hostage to outdated political assumptions.

A State That Never Disappeared

Somaliland’s claim to sovereignty is not based on rebellion or unilateral border revision. It rests on restoration. Formerly the British Somaliland Protectorate, Somaliland became independent on June 26, 1960, and was recognized by more than thirty-five countries, including permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Only days later did it voluntarily unite with Italian Somalia to form the Somali Republic.

That union, however, was never legally consummated through a binding, ratified act endorsed by both sides. When the Somali state collapsed and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)