by Mohamed Behi YonisMonday, September 16, 2013
Despite facing many pressing problems, both in Europe and elsewhere,
it is encouraging to see that EU leaders are going to focus on my region
today, in a Conference – the New Deal for Somalia, that will sanction a
clear and improved framework for international donors’ engagement with
the Somali people.
The Horn of Africa has for a long time been seen as one of the
world’s most troubled regions. It has been defined on the front pages of
Europe’s newspapers by conflict, repression, famine, terrorism and
piracy. Thanks to international support, Somalia has made important
progress since 2012 but it remains very fragile and in need of further
assistance to achieve stability, security and good governance.
To
that end, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European
Council, will gather in Brussels with a number of donors and
beneficiaries.
Somaliland whole-heartedly welcomes the New Deal for Fragile States
process, inaugurated in Busan in 2011 by a group of donors and
post-conflict countries, as it offers a more effective mechanism to
deliver development assistance to our country.
However, while supporting the New Deal process and welcoming of the
donors’ engagement, we have chosen not to participate in the Conference.
Somaliland and Somalia find themselves at two very different stages of
development, and we therefore feel that our presence at this particular
Conference, co-hosted by Somalia, would not be appropriate. We
Somalilanders have governed ourselves in conditions of peace and
stability for the last 22 years, and our country is at the
“transformative” stage of development, whereas Somalia has yet to
recover from more than two decades of civil war and much of its
territory remains outside government control. Somaliland’s national
needs and priorities are very different to Somalia’s.
This does not mean that we do not wish to engage with the EU
—Somaliland is extremely grateful to the EU for its strong support and
friendship across a whole range of important issues.
And it does not mean that we are not willing to speak and cooperate
with Somalia. In 2012 the international community agreed to support a
Dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia and we held three rounds of
talks so far. The objective is to clarity our future relationship and
in the short-term we hope to cooperate on issues like security and
trade.
Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, after a
civil war in which 50,000 Somalilanders were killed, and our capital,
Hargeisa, was reduced to rubble by bombs.
That independence was strongly endorsed by a referendum in 2001, and
by the results of 5 democratic nation-wide elections held since that
time.
We have built a separate state, which meets in full the criteria of
customary international law for statehood, and which our peaceful and
hard-working citizens are proud of.
We will not cooperate in attempts to rebuild the former unified state
of Somalia, if it purports to include Somaliland. Nor can we cooperate
in any effort to use aid as a lever to force Somaliland to become part
of Somalia.
In line with our support for the New Deal process, the Somaliland
Government and civil society have together adopted a document based on
New Deal principles, the Somaliland Special Arrangement (SSA). This is
fully compatible with our National Development Plan, and therefore
reflects our own priorities.
Our intention is that the SSA will form a distinct and separate
component of the broader Somali New Deal Compact, facilitating
coordination between the donor community and Somaliland at the level of
both government and civil society. The Federal Government of Somalia
has had no input into this document.
We wish to settle our differences with Somalia peacefully and without
outside pressure. It is in our interests to see Somalia recover its
former stability, provided that it does not compromise our own
stability, nor our people’s desire for Somaliland to be recognised as an
independent state.
We support the New Deal, and hope to be able to work with the EU in
the future to build not only a strong, stable and democratic Somalia,
but a strong, stable, democratic and independent Somaliland too.
Mohamed Behi Yonis is Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Republic of Somaliland.
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