Kenya ‘regrets’ inviting Somaliland envoy after Somalia protest

Kenya on Tuesday evening said it ‘regrets’ inviting a representative of Somaliland office in Nairobi to be part of a diplomatic briefing hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House.

A note sent to the Somali Embassy in Nairobi says the presence of the “Somaliland flag” at the meeting was “inadvertent and inappropriate.”

“The Ministry further wishes to reaffirm its recognition of one Federal Somali Government and the integrity of the Federal Somali State,” it said.

The matter arose after Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya Mohamoud Ahmed Nur ‘Tarzan’ walked out of state luncheon hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta for the diplomatic corps in Nairobi. The event had also invited a representative from the Somaliland liaison office, which the ambassador saw as inappropriate.

Somalia, in spite of seeing Somaliland as its territory, had not protested the establishment of the region’s liaison office in Nairobi and has in the past permitted Nairobi to establish a consulate in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.

On Tuesday, Mr Nur said he walked out because Nairobi had invited, and granted the same diplomatic privileges, to a diplomat from the Somaliland Liaison office in Nairobi, something he considered a violation.

The protest came just days after President Uhuru Kenyatta travelled to Mogadishu to attend the inauguration of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia, and promised better ties between the two sides that had briefly cut diplomatic ties in December 2020. Somalia also promised to reopen miraa market for Kenya.

Somalia’s beef with Somaliland is that it declared independence 30 years ago yet it is supposed to be part of Somalia.

On Tuesday, Somaliland’s Foreign Ministry said the Somali envoy protested the “participation of the republic of Somaliland at the event.”

“The Republic of Somaliland is a sovereign, independent and democratic country that aspires to live in peace and tranquility with our neighboring countries,” it said. However, no other country, including Kenya, recognise Somaliland’s sovereignty. Nairobi has in the past said the final decision on the fate of the region will lie in dialogue between Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

The two regions were initially separately administered during colonial times, with Somaliland known as British Somaliland and Somalia known as Italian Somaliland. They merged in 1960 to form the Somali Republic. In 1991, Somaliland unilaterally announced it had broken from the union.

Since then, Somaliland has gone on to run its own military, government, central bank and currency. But only Taiwan, which is also internationally recognised as part of China, has ever recognised it.

In 2020, Somalia cut diplomatic ties with Kenya after President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted Somaliland leader Muse Bihi. But Somalia didn’t have the same protests when Mr Bihi toured Djibouti, nor Ethiopia.