Editing Somaliland (section)

=== Foreign relations ===
{{Main|Foreign relations of Somaliland}}
[[File:The President of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi And the Guinean Foreign minister, Mamadi Toure.jpg|thumb|left|The President of Somaliland [[Muse Bihi Abdi]] during a visit to the [[Republic of Guinea]]. He received a high-ranking delegation headed by the [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Guinea)|Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea]] Mamadi Touré in 2019.]]
Somaliland has political contacts with its neighbours [[Ethiopia]]<ref name="Future recognition">{{cite web | title=Somaliland closer to recognition by Ethiopia | url=http://www.afrol.com/articles/25633 | publisher=Afrol News | access-date=19 October 2014}}</ref> and [[Djibouti]],<ref name="Djibouti">{{cite web | title=Somaliland, Djibouti in bitter port feud | url=http://www.afrol.com/articles/23556 | publisher=Afrol News | access-date=22 July 2007}}</ref> non-UN member state [[Taiwan|Republic of China (Taiwan)]],<ref name="cwhhB">{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-somaliland/outflanked-by-china-in-africa-taiwan-eyes-unrecognised-somaliland-idUSKBN2424UI | title=Outflanked by China in Africa, Taiwan eyes unrecognised Somaliland | publisher=Reuters | date=1 July 2020 | access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Diplo">{{cite news |title = Taiwan Throws a Diplomatic Curveball by Establishing Ties With Somaliland|newspaper = The Diplomat|date=10 July 2020|url= https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/taiwan-throws-a-diplomatic-curveball-by-establishing-ties-with-somaliland/|access-date=31 August 2010|first= Nick |last= Aspinwall}}</ref> as well as with South Africa,<ref name="Future recognition" /> Sweden,<ref name="zNeov">{{cite web | title=Somaliland Diplomatic Mission in Sweden | url=http://www.somalilandembassy.se/ | access-date=2 April 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510080355/http://www.somalilandembassy.se/ | archive-date=10 May 2009 | df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the United Kingdom.<ref name="sBLFI">{{cite web | title=Somaliland | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040204/halltext/40204h03.htm | publisher=United Kingdom Parliament | date=4 February 2004 | access-date=23 July 2007 | archive-date=7 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207145331/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040204/halltext/40204h03.htm }}</ref> On 17 January 2007, the European Union (EU) sent a delegation for foreign affairs to discuss future co-operation.<ref name="SGlUE">{{cite web | title=EU Breaks Ice on Financing Somaliland | url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/168/29775.html | publisher=Global Policy Forum | date=11 February 2003 | access-date=23 February 2007}}</ref> The [[African Union]] (AU) has also sent a foreign minister to discuss the future of international acknowledgment, and on 29 and 30 January 2007, the ministers stated that they would discuss acknowledgement with the organisation's member states.<ref name="hIkqD">{{cite web | title=AU supports Somali split | url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2006-02-10-au-supports-somali-split | publisher=Mail and Guardian | date=10 February 2006 | access-date=23 February 2007}}</ref>
In early 2006, the [[Senedd|National Assembly for Wales]] extended an official invitation to the Somaliland government to attend the royal opening of the [[Senedd building]] in [[Cardiff]]. The move was seen as an act of recognition by the Welsh Assembly of the breakaway government's legitimacy. The [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office|Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] made no comment on the invitation. Wales is home to a significant Somali [[expatriate]] community from Somaliland.<ref name="rWlgv">{{cite news | last=Shipton | first=Martin | title=Wales strikes out on its own in its recognition of Somaliland | work=Wales Online | date=3 March 2006 | url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/tm_objectid=16766640&method=full&siteid=50082-name_page.html | access-date=25 June 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126004952/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/tm_objectid%3D16766640%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50082-name_page.html | archive-date=26 January 2012 }}</ref>

In 2007, a delegation led by President Kahin was present at the [[Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007|Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting]] in [[Kampala]], Uganda. Although Somaliland has applied to join the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] under [[observer status]], its application is still pending.<ref name="1561D">{{cite web | title=Somaliland on verge of observer status in the Commonwealth | url=http://www.qarannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6381&Itemid=59 | publisher=Qaran News | date=16 November 2009 | access-date=2 February 2010}}</ref>

On 24 September 2010, [[Johnnie Carson]], Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, stated that the United States would be modifying its strategy in Somalia and would seek deeper engagement with the governments of Somaliland and Puntland while continuing to support the Somali Transitional Government.<ref name="PSMPf">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/world/africa/27somalia.html?ref=world | work=The New York Times | title=Helicopter Attacks Militant Meeting in Somalia | first1=Mohamed | last1=Ibrahim | first2=Jeffrey | last2=Gettleman | date=26 September 2010}}</ref> Carson said the US would send aid workers and diplomats to Puntland and Somaliland and alluded to the possibility of future development projects. However, Carson emphasised that the US would not extend formal recognition to either region.<ref name="LRG65">{{cite web|url=http://www.afrol.com/articles/36651|work=Afrol News |title=US near de-facto recognition of Somaliland |access-date=28 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307151856/http://afrol.com/articles/36651|archive-date=7 March 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Somaliland Foreign Minister Hagi Mohamoud with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.jpg|thumb|Somaliland Foreign Minister [[Yasin Haji Mohamoud|Hagi Mohamoud]] with Taiwan President [[Tsai Ing-wen]]]]
The then-UK Minister for Africa, [[Henry Bellingham, Baron Bellingham|Henry Bellingham]] MP, met President Silanyo of Somaliland in November 2010 to discuss ways in which to increase the UK's engagement with Somaliland.<ref name="YAv8r">{{cite web | url=http://ukun.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=204732682 | title=Strengthening the UK's relationship with Somaliland | publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office | date=25 November 2010 | access-date=29 March 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807153007/http://ukun.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=204732682 | archive-date=7 August 2011 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> President Silanyo said during his visit to London: {{qi|We have been working with the international community and the international community has been engaging with us, giving us assistance and working with us in our democratisation and development programmes. And we are very happy with the way the international community has been dealing with us, particularly the UK, the US, other European nations, and our neighbours who continue to seek recognition.}}<ref name="J659i">{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/feature_button.php?id=20 |title=Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo, President of the Republic of Somaliland |work=This is Africa |date=20 January 2011 |access-date=29 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130180830/http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/feature_button.php?id=20 |archive-date=30 January 2011}}</ref>

Recognition of Somaliland by the UK was also supported by the [[UK Independence Party]], which came third in the popular vote at the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]], though only electing a single MP. The leader of UKIP, [[Nigel Farage]], met with Ali Aden Awale, Head of the Somaliland UK Mission on Somaliland's national day, 18 May, in 2015, to express UKIP's support for Somaliland.<ref name="2dW78">{{cite web|url=http://www.ukip.org/ukip_supports_somaliland_national_day|title=UKIP supports Somaliland national day|work=UKIP|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-date=5 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205113932/http://www.ukip.org/ukip_supports_somaliland_national_day}}</ref>

In 2011, Somaliland and the neighbouring Puntland region each entered a security-related [[memorandum of understanding]] with the [[Seychelles]]. Following the framework of an earlier agreement signed between the Transitional Federal Government and Seychelles, the memorandum is {{qi|for the transfer of convicted persons to prisons in 'Puntland' and 'Somaliland'.}}<ref name="37bHo">{{cite report |title=Report of the Secretary-General on specialized anti-piracy courts in Somalia and other States in the region |date=2012 |url=http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Somalia%20S%202012%2050.pdf |publisher=UN Security Council |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref>

On 1 July 2020, Somaliland and [[Taiwan]] signed an agreement to set up representative offices to promote cooperation between the two countries.<ref name="WlYiq">{{cite news |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007010011 |title=Taiwan and Somaliland to set up representative offices: MOFA |author=Chiang Yi-ching |work=Focus Taiwan |date=1 July 2020 |access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref> Cooperation between the two polities on education, maritime security, and medicine began in 2009, and Taiwanese staff entered Somaliland in February 2020 to prepare for the representative office.<ref name="XifKf">{{cite news |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007010019 |title=Taiwan and Somaliland to set up representative offices (update) |author=Chiang Yi-ching |work=Focus Taiwan |date=1 July 2020 |access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref> As of 2023, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to Somaliland as a country.<ref name=taiwanmofa/>

On 1 January 2024, a [[2024 Ethiopia–Somaliland memorandum of understanding|memorandum of understanding]] was signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland, where Ethiopia will lease the port of [[Berbera]] on the [[Gulf of Aden]], and a 20-kilometre stretch of Gulf of Aden coastline, for 20 years, in exchange for eventual recognition of Somaliland as an independent state and a stake in the [[Ethiopian Airlines]]. If this agreement is honoured, Ethiopia would become the first United Nations member state to recognise the breakaway nation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kheyr |date=1 January 2024 |title=Somaliland and Ethiopia: Recognition for Sea Access |url=https://thesomalidigest.com/somaliland-and-ethiopia-recognition-for-sea-access/ |access-date=2 January 2024 |website=Somali News in English {{!}} The Somali Digest |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Ethiopia's gambit for a port is unsettling a volatile region |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/01/02/ethiopias-gambit-for-a-port-is-unsettling-a-volatile-region |access-date=2 January 2024 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

==== Border disputes ====
{{Main|Puntland–Somaliland dispute}}
{{further|Somalia–Somaliland border}}
[[File:Somaliland-Khatumo Agreement.png|thumb|left|President [[Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud|Silanyo]] and [[Ali Khalif Galaydh|Ali Khalif]] signing the Somaliland-Khatumo Agreement in [[Aynabo]] in October 2017]]
[[File:Somaliland. Anglo-Italian Boundary Commission 1929-1930. Index to Field sheets etc. War Office ledger (WOOS-33-1).jpg|thumb|right|Map showing the eastern boundaries of Somaliland by the Somaliland Treaties including the Anglo-Italian boundary.]]

Somaliland continues to claim the entire area of the former [[British Somaliland]] which gained independence in 1960 in the name of [[State of Somaliland]].<ref name="const" /> It is currently in control of the vast majority of the former [[State of Somaliland]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=BFA Staatendokumentation, Analyse zu Somalia – Lagekarten zur Sicherheitslage. Situation Maps – Security Situation|url=https://lifos.migrationsverket.se/dokument?documentAttachmentId=42837|language=de|publisher=[[Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum]]|location=Austria|via=[[Swedish Migration Agency]]}}</ref>

[[Puntland]], a federal member state of [[Somalia]], disputes the [[Harti]]-inhabited territory in the former British Somaliland protectorate based on kinship. In 1998, the northern Darod clans established the state, and the [[Dhulbahante]] and [[Warsangali]] clans wholly participated in its foundation.<ref name="Lund">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDLNDgAAQBAJ&q=dhulbahante+sool&pg=PT301|title=Rule and Rupture: State Formation Through the Production of Property and Citizenship|last1=Lund|first1=Christian|last2=Eilenberg|first2=Michael|date=4 May 2017|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-38480-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Höhne |first1=Markus V. |title=Traditional Authorities in Northern Somalia: Transformation of positions and powers |journal=Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology |page=16 |url=https://www.eth.mpg.de/pubs/wps/pdf/mpi-eth-working-paper-0082.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mesfin |first1=Berouk |title=The political development of Somaliland and its conflict with Puntland |journal=Institute for Security Studies |date=September 2009 |page=10 |url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/111689/P200.pdf}}</ref>

The Harti were the second most powerful clan confederation in Somaliland until the 1993 [[Borama]] Conference, when they were replaced in importance by the Gadabursi.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Balthasar |first1=Dominik |title=State-making in Somalia and Somaliland: Understanding War, Nationalism and State Trajectories as Processes of Institutional and Socio-Cognitive Standardization |type=PhD thesis |date=2012 |publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science |page=179 |url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/572/1/Balthasar_State-Making_Somalia_Somaliland_2013.pdf |access-date=11 March 2022}}</ref> The [[Dhulbahante]] and [[Warsangali]] clans established two separate administrations in the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoehne |first1=Markus |title=Somaliland: the complicated formation of a de facto state |page=8 |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a44f918f9a61e04cdd5d717/t/5e9622ac275e9c745d1f8c10/1586897581908/Hoehene.pdf |access-date=1 June 2021}}</ref> First, the former was to hold the [[Boocame]] I conference in May 1993, while the later held a conference in [[Hadaaftimo]] in September 1992.<ref>{{cite news |title=Raadreeb: Midnimada Soomaaliya iyo qodobada shirkii beesha Warsangeli ee 'Hadaaftimo 30 Siteenbar 1992' |url=https://www.daljir.com/raadreeb-midnimada-soomaaliya-iyo-qodobada-shirkii-beesha-warsangeli-ee-hadaaftimo-30-siteenbar-1992/ |access-date=14 March 2022 |agency=Daljir |date=17 January 2018}}</ref> In both conferences the desire to remain part of [[Somalia]] was expressed.

Tensions between Puntland and Somaliland escalated into violence several times between 2002 and 2009. In October 2004, and again in April and October 2007, armed forces of Somaliland and Puntland clashed near the town of [[Las Anod]], the capital of Sool region. In October 2007, Somaliland troops took control of the town.<ref name="CtrHR">{{cite web | title=Puntland and Somaliland clashing in northern Somalia | url=http://hornofafrica.ssrc.org/Hoehne/printable.html | last=Hoehne |first=Markus V. | date=7 November 2007 | access-date=2 December 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117043205/http://hornofafrica.ssrc.org/Hoehne/printable.html | archive-date=17 November 2007 }}</ref> While celebrating Puntland's 11th anniversary on 2 August 2009, Puntland officials vowed to recapture Las Anod. While Somaliland claims independent statehood and therefore "split up" the "old" Somalia, Puntland works for the re-establishment of a united but [[federal state|federal]] Somali state.<ref name="QMuAy">{{cite journal | title=Mimesis and mimicry in dynamics of state and identity formation in northern Somalia |journal = Africa|volume = 79|issue = 2|pages = 252–281 | year=2009 |doi = 10.3366/E0001972009000710|last1 = Hoehne|first1 = Markus V.|s2cid = 145753382}}</ref>

Somaliland forces took control of the town of [[Las Qorey]] in eastern [[Sanaag]] on 10 July 2008, along with positions {{convert|5|km|mi|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} east of the town. The defence forces completed their operations on 9 July 2008 after the Maakhir and Puntland militia in the area left their positions.<ref name="1hhVN">{{cite web | title=Somaliland Defence Forces take control of Las Qorey | url=http://www.qarannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2016&Itemid=59 | work=Qaran News | date=9 July 2008 | access-date=2 April 2010}}</ref>

In the late 2000s, [[SSC (militia)|SSC Movement]] (Hoggaanka Badbaadada iyo Mideynta SSC), a local unionist group based in [[Sanaag]] was formed with the goal to establish its own regional administration (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, or SSC).<ref name="Sqfirhbmsscf" /> This later evolved into [[Khatumo State]], which was established in 2012. The local administration and its constituents does not recognise the Somaliland government's claim to sovereignty or to its territory.<ref name="Srwiks">{{cite news|title=What is Khatumo State?|url=http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/3271/What_is_Khatumo_State|access-date=14 April 2015|newspaper=Somalia Report|date=26 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312061049/http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/3271/What_is_Khatumo_State|archive-date=12 March 2014}}</ref>

On 20 October 2017 in [[Aynaba|Aynabo]], an agreement was signed with the Somaliland government that stipulated the amendment of Somaliland's constitution and integrating the organisation into the Somaliland government.<ref name="JUrFgD3S">{{Cite web|last=Mahmood|first=Omar S.|date=1 November 2019|title=Overlapping Claims by Somaliland and Puntland: The Case of Sool and Sanaag|url=https://www.africaportal.org/publications/overlapping-claims-somaliland-and-puntland-case-sool-and-sanaag/|access-date=29 June 2020|website=Africa Portal}}</ref><ref name="bz9hy">{{Cite web|date=21 October 2017|title=Khaatumo and Somaliland reach final agreement|url=http://somalilanddaily.com/articles/137/Khaatumo-and-Somaliland-reach-final-agreement|access-date=29 June 2020|website=Somaliland Daily}}</ref> This signalled the end of the organisation even though it was an unpopular event among the [[Dhulbahante]] community.<ref name="MufR56NB">{{Cite journal|last=Doon|first=Run|title=Current Affairs in the Horn of Africa|url=https://www.michael-walls.com/wp-content/uploads/Run-Doon-180817_web.pdf|journal=Anglo-Somali Society Journal|volume=Autumn 2017|issue=Somaliland, Khaatumo agreement reached|access-date=12 September 2020|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629192548/https://www.michael-walls.com/wp-content/uploads/Run-Doon-180817_web.pdf}}</ref><ref name="JUrFgD3S" />