Somalia warns corporates recognising Somaliland

Somalia says it will make good its threat of punishing corporate bodies labelling or operating as though Somaliland is independent territory.

Mogadishu had said all firms with operations in Somalia should, by September 1, have altered information on their network platforms to reflect that Somaliland was a part of Somalia.

Somalia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) referred to the country’s provisional constitution to order companies to slash the name of Somaliland, the self-declared independent territory, from their network information sites.

Money transfer agencies such as Paysii, Dahabshil and Jubba Express were specifically named in that communique that was also meant to draw the attention of other remittance dealers and companies to stop using the name of Somaliland instead apply Somalia, giving deadline.

Ethiopian Airlines which flies to Hargeisa and Mogadishu was also fingered after it had labelled the Somaliland destination as a separate country.

“Use Somalia only in your systems as from 1st of September (this year),” Commerce and Industry Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi had said on August 24.

The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) had also directed airlines using Somali airports to stop referring cities such as Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland territory, as different from Somalia.

The matter though is reflective of the events since January 2 this year when Ethiopia and Somaliland inked an MoU that could grant Addis Ababa a coastal strip to build a naval base ostensibly in return for recognising Somaliland, which has fought for recognition since 1991 without success.

That MoU irked Mogadishu, which has gone on to protest at every global forum, accusing Ethiopia of plotting to dismember Somalia.

Somaliland, however, insists that Mogadishu has refused to recognise the real problem.

Ismail Shirwac, First Secretary at the Somaliland Liaison Mission in Nairobi, said Somalia shouldn’t be picking a quarrel with Ethiopia, but address the concerns of Somaliland.

“The core of the matter lies in Somaliland exercising its sovereign right to enter into international agreements, as we did with the UAE's DP World, while Somalia continues to assert that Somaliland is part of Somalia and, therefore, cannot engage in such agreements independently,” he told Shirwac told The EastAfrican on Thursday, referring to a past port deal Somaliland entered with Emirati logistics firm DP World, but which Somalia rejected.

“As long as Somalia disregards the reality of Somaliland's sovereignty, it risks further isolating itself on the global stage.”

Regionally, Somalia has often reacted fast when countries tried to deal with Somaliland as independent. Somalia cut diplomatic ties with Kenya in December 2020, accusing Nairobi of interfering with Mogadishu’s internal affairs after it hosted Somaliland leader in Nairobi. It resumed relations six months later.

It had, in 2019, also cut ties with Guinea after it gave Somaliland leader Muse Bihi a red-carpet reception.

While no sovereign state has formally recognised Somaliland, Shirwac said Somaliland continue to engage with the international community and “to form strategic partnerships.”

“It is in the interest of the entire region for Somalia to recognize the sovereignty and independence of Somaliland.”

Those partnerships may now face a test. Ethiopian Airlines and Flydubai were specifically warned their landing rights could be revoked if they didn’t change. Ethiopian Airlines came into controversy after it showed Hargeisa without the name of the country while Flydubai described it as located in Somaliland.

Earlier this year, some airlines complained of receiving contradictory navigation instructions from air traffic controllers in Somalia and Somaliland, risking safety of passengers. Internationally, only one Somali airspace is recognised, however.

Both airlines stopped referring Hargeisa and other landing sites in the region as Somaliland and applied Somalia as instructed.

But it came after Ethiopian’s request for a longer timeline was refused.

“Given the available technological capabilities, we believe the necessary corrections should not take more than two days,” SCAA said.

Nonetheless, the issue raised strong reaction from leaders in Somaliland authority.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Irro, a politician seeking to unseat Bihi in the next elections labelled the Somali government’s order as a ‘blatant aggression.’

“The government in Somalia has recently been orchestrating attack on the people, internally and externally, displaying hate and violence,” Irro said this week.

Khadar Hussein Abdi, the Secretary General of opposition Wadani Party, argued the push by Somalia will galvanise Somaliland.

“Somaliland did not emerge from expression of words and written papers, but from blood spilled,” he said, invoking Somaliland’s reasons to break away after the region was bombed by the Siad Barre regime in the late 1980s civil war.

Somaliland has often depicted Somalia as a failed state and Bihi said the same last month when Egypt sent arms to Somalia to support local forces against al-Shabaab, but which irked Ethiopia.

“President Hassan (Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud) who cannot even secure his own palace in Mogadishu without foreign troops, is issuing directives to force planes landing in our territory and banks from operating under our name to change,” stated Bihi at a public gathering in Hargeisa on August 26.

“Somalia's efforts to undermine Somaliland’s independence are ineffective. These directives will not change the reality on the ground and our status.”

Somaliland, once known as British Somaliland Protectorate attained independence from UK on 26 June 1960 and voluntarily merged with Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic on 1st July 1960.

Since the territory unilaterally reclaimed independence on 18th of May 1991, following the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime, it enjoyed a de facto self-rule with a functioning democracy, having own central bank and a separate currency.

For now, corporates have weighed business gains or losses. Ethiopian, for instance, faced the grim reality of losing business in Somalia, including 6 fight destinations and two daily flights to Mogadishu.

Money remittance companies and other entities cleared their issue via the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) which said it “stands for the advocacy on matters affecting investors, manufactures and traders.”