21 August 2008

Remind me why Somaliland doesn't get formal recognition

I continue to be entirely baffled by the whole planet's complete refusal to recognize Somaliland as an independent state. As I recall, there were some rumblings that the Pentagon would like to go that way sometime last year, but nothing seems to have come of it. Anyway, today we have two news stories that nicely contrast Somaliland and the officially recognized Somalia.

Exhibit A: There is currently a food and monetary crisis in Somaliland, as in much of the world. The national government has convened a high-level task force to produce an action plan, and has conducted a study of the depth of the problem with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. What we have here is a functioning government, seeking to take care of its responsibilities while having virtually no resources.

Exhibit B: The fractious Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (in its latest iteration) has once again signed a peace agreement with a rebel faction (notice the word faction), which has led to the extension of the UN backed AMISOM peacekeeping force (one in a succession). By my count, this is peace agreement #1,907,685.3, or some such since my pre-pubescent years.

All I'm saying is that maybe, maybe, it might make sense to officially help out the folks who seem to have their shit together, instead of being hampered by some antiquated notion of a sovereign state that ceased to effectively function nearly two decades ago.

2 comments:

Rooble Mohamed said...

You are absolutely right here. Somaliland should be recognized so that it will be a lesson to Somalia as well to bring their shit together once and for all.

The world has never been fair to Somaliland but i'm glad that the Society is struggling hard to maintain a factional democratic government which is ran by the minimum budget with all the huge tasks.

Unknown said...

If we did *that*, we'd effectively be giving a green light to all *sorts* of little breakaway enclaves that want outside support, like Kosovo and South Ossetia.

Wait, crap.

Actually, I suspect the real reason is that, unlike Kosovo and S. Ossetia, all the big players with dogs in the fight have put their weight behind the TFG. Somaliland, as an entity that sort of self-organized (AFAIK) is probably too much of an unknown, and would upset people who are known allies (er... "allies"). But, I mean, you know that.