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Published on Tuesday, 17 June 2014 18:51 Written by Rengo Gyyw Rengo, Jr., The New Sudan Vision (NSV), www.newsudanvision.com Editor’s note: This article was sent to New Sudan Vision on May 24, 2014 and it did not get published until today due to lack of time. And, for that, we apologize to our esteemed columnist, Mr. Rengo Gyyw Rengo,Jr., for the delay in publication! Pictured in the middle of this historic Somaliland photo is South Sudan’s Mr. Rengo Gyyw Rengo, Jr. himself, cutting the independence celebration cake, moments after addressing the occasion as chief guest, an honor he shared with great humility and intellect using his extensive background/knowledge in international relations/regional geopolitics, coupled with the harsh realities and experiences from his own native country, South Sudan, which gained its independence in 2011. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Somaliland is a "country" in the horn of Africa that is still struggling to be...

As I drive home through the streets of a city in a country which has enjoyed and continues to enjoy abundant reserves of Oil, I cannot but think that all this could one day be replicated in Somaliland. Now, although I want what is best for Somaliland, the country I am currently residing in isn’t the glitzy U.A.E nor is it the up and coming Qatar. I am in a country that has, in my opinion, failed to fully realise it’s developmental potential after more than 50 years of oil exports. From dilapidating roads, buildings and infrastructure to non-existent public transport, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is slowly realising that it must invest in key areas to not only modernise the country with railways, light rail, larger airports and an integrated public transport system but to also provide more employment opportunities for it’s citizens and diversify it’s economy. The reasons for the country’s inability to modernize it’s infrastructure over the years are many but the f...

I would like to thank you all for making the trip to Hargeisa. I would like to mention, in particular, the UN Resident Coordinator, Philippe Lazzarini, and the Danish and UK governments for working with us to facilitate this meeting. On behalf of the Somaliland government and people, we are grateful to those development partners that sit before us here today, as well as those who were unable to share this occasion with us, for their generous assistance to Somaliland over all these years. Today we come together to take stock of the progress Somaliland has made in implementing the New Deal since we endorsed the Somaliland Special Arrangement in September 2013, and to point the way forward. Somaliland and the international community are committed to working towards the same goals of a peaceful, democratic and prosperous region, and this coordination forum offers an important opportunity for the Somaliland government, civil society and our ...

The de facto state of Somaliland has featured prominently as constituting an exceptional case of state-making in both academic and policy communities. Consequently, the case has not only come to be considered a ‘success story’, but has been elevated to constituting ‘Africa’s Best Kept Secret’. Three key reasons appear to account for this widespread conception. First, Somaliland has, for a variety of reasons, performed significantly better in terms of governance and development as compared to its closest counterpart, south-central Somalia . Second, international observers have frequently emphasized the peaceful, bottom-up, and democratic elements of its trajectory at the expense of other traits. And third, these alleged hallmarks of Somaliland’s state-making project have fallen on fruitful grounds as they are well in line with the pluralist and liberal conceptions of state-making that largely dominate international development approaches. Somaliland’s...