By Wes Harlan, Politics and Policy Editor
Israel made headlines this month when it became the first country to officially recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. The move sparked celebrations in Somaliland and outrage from international bodies. When asked by the New York Post whether the U.S. might follow Israel’s lead, President Trump replied that such a step wasn’t planned, adding bluntly, “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?”
Some people do. Some Americans have even traveled there. But more importantly, Somaliland is one of the clearest examples in the world of a functioning democracy that exists entirely outside the international system. Despite building a peaceful society out of the ashes of genocide, most of the world refuses to acknowledge its existence as a nation.
A Country Born Out of Atrocity
For people who only know Somalia through Black Hawk Down or headlines about piracy and warlords, Somaliland’s story feels impossible. But Somaliland wasn’t created out of chaos. It reclaimed its independence after barely surviving one of the worst atrocities on the African continent.
Somaliland was a British protectorate that became the independent State of Somaliland in 1960. It voluntarily united with the former Italian colony of Somalia days later. That union fell apart when Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre launched a brutal campaign against the Isaaq people of Somaliland. Barre’s air force bombed Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, flattening ninety percent of the city. Civilians were targeted from the air, a massacre the world largely ignored.
In 1991, after surviving genocide, Somaliland declared independence and rebuilt from scratch.
And unlike so many countries in the region, it actually did rebuild.
A Functional Democracy in a Chaotic Neighborhood
Somaliland has held nine competitive elections since declaring independence, created its own currency, maintains its own military, secures its own borders, and enforces its own laws. It has peaceful transfers of power. It has stability. It has relative freedom.
Meanwhile, the internationally recognized government of Somalia cannot hold its own capital without foreign troops.
This is the disconnect. Somaliland functions as a state, but the world treats it as a footnote.
That refusal has consequences far beyond pride or symbolism.
The High Cost of Being Unrecognized
Without international recognition, Somaliland cannot access global loans, foreign investment, or normal trade relationships. It cannot sign treaties as a sovereign nation. Its students, athletes, and entrepreneurs often discover the painful truth the first time they try to travel abroad.
To the world, their country doesn’t exist, so their rights don’t either.
Look at Artsakh, also known as Nagorno Karabakh. Another unrecognized region whose people were displaced in forty four days while international institutions looked the other way. Lack of recognition makes populations disposable.
Somalilanders understand this risk better than anyone.
A Strategic Ally the World Pretends Not to See
The irony is that Somaliland sits on some of the most strategically important waters on earth, the Gulf of Aden, just north of the Bab el Mandeb Strait where a massive share of global shipping passes every day.
And right now those same waters are part of a region destabilized by Houthi missile strikes from Yemen, Iran backed militias, and expanding Chinese influence.
This is exactly why Israel moved first. It wasn’t random goodwill. It was strategy.
And American lawmakers see it too. Members of Congress have highlighted Somaliland’s democratic governance, its cooperation against piracy and extremism, its alignment with Taiwan, and its refusal to bow to China.
In a world where great power competition is back,
Somaliland is an ally waiting on the bench.
The Ethiopia Deal That Shows Somaliland Is Already Acting Like a Sovereign State
Last year Somaliland signed an agreement allowing Ethiopia access to a stretch of its coastline for port development and a military base, a major economic and geopolitical deal.
Somalia reacted with fury. But the point is clear.
A country that negotiates military and port agreements with regional powers isn’t a breakaway province.
It is a country operating normally, just without recognition.
Why the World Still Says “No”
If Somaliland checks every box, why not recognize it?
The answer has nothing to do with Somaliland and everything to do with global politics.
The African Union openly admits it fears the precedent of allowing borders to change, even when the original union was voluntary and ended in genocide. Authoritarian states worry that if Somaliland gains recognition, other regions might try too.
Territorial integrity has become a shield governments use to claim ownership over populations who do not want them.
Self determination is supposed to be a principle of international law. In practice only some people get to exercise it.
And make no mistake, this is entirely political. The breakaway state of Kosovo was recognized when it sought to separate from Yugoslavia, in large part because it would serve as a US ally against Russia.
What Somaliland Could Be
The coastline is beautiful. Tourism could flourish. Foreign investment would flow instantly if restrictions were lifted. Somaliland could become a stabilizing force in an unstable region, a partner in counterterrorism, trade, and maritime security.
More importantly, its people would no longer live with the fear that their sovereignty could be erased overnight simply because the world refuses to acknowledge it.
The Larger Question Somaliland Forces Us to Ask
Somaliland isn’t the only unrecognized state. Northern Cyprus. Artsakh. Transnistria. Abkhazia. South Ossetia. Dozens more.
Kids grow up in these places thinking they have a country only to learn at the airport or at a competition or at a border crossing that the world considers them stateless.
Somaliland forces a simple question.
Do borders exist because institutions say they do or because people have chosen them, fought for them, rebuilt them, and held them together for thirty three years?
If recognition is supposed to reward stability, democracy, and peace, then Somaliland has earned it more than many states that already have a seat at the United Nations.
In California, our political leaders have made a big point of supporting democracy. In capitals around the world, politicians proclaim their support for democracy.
Now, a democracy needs our support. The only question left is whether the world will keep pretending it doesn’t see what is right in front of it.
Featured image by YoTuT via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
Wes Harlan
Wes Harlan covers California politics, legislative hearings, and everything else that gives normal people a headache. Known for showing up early, staying late, and filing clean copy five minutes before deadline, Wes has built a reputation as the guy who actually reads the bill before writing about it.
