Sir Gavin Williamson, the former UK defense secretary who lobbied the president-elect, revealed to The Independent that Donald Trump could recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state once he assumes power in January.
His projection resulted from the meeting he told the aforementioned publication he had held with the Trump team, noting that he is confident of the fact.
They should agree to it, though when he assumes office it will probably all take a little longer than we hope. But had really good meetings with his policy leads so fingers crossed,” he said.
“One of Trump’s last orders as president was to withdraw troops from Somalia but then Biden countermanded that order. There is nothing that Trump hates more than someone overruling him so I used that to push the argument,” he added.
This information coincides with the recently held elections in the region which saw to the victory of the opposition leader Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, after amassing a 53% vote.
Somaliland’s sovereignty
Currently, the sovereignty of Somaliland is recognized only by Ethiopia, which sparked tensions in the East African region earlier this year.
Ethiopia and Somalia got into a bit of a debacle over the independence of Somaliland.
At the beginning of the year, the landlocked country of Ethiopia touted its new plan to gain direct access to the sea through Somaliland through a port deal, for which it agreed to recognize the country as an independent state.
In response the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud passed a bill that “nullifies” the port deal, with Somalia even going as far as saying it would stop at nothing to protect its territorial integrity.
Somalia considers Somaliland a part of its territory, while Somaliland considers itself a sovereign state.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia more than 30 years ago. However, to this day it has not been recognized as an independent state by the African Union (AU) or the United Nations (UN).
However, Somaliland does have ties with the UK, given the fact that it is a former British protectorate.
Former United States President Barack Obama, had refuted Somaliland’s claim to indepence, a stance that would be shared by the US’s seating President Joe Biden.
However, prior to Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, his first administration was on the verge of recognizing the de facto state.
The UK would be under pressure to follow suit if he were to move forward with the initiave this time.
