Introductory Summary

Over the past 17 years, Somaliland achieved an enviable measure of peace and stability, as well as economic reconstruction and development while most of the rest of former Somali Republic descended into chaos and violence. It has also established democratic institutions, eliminated all restrictions on the private sector and community-based initiatives. It has done so with little or external assistance, and from a base of complete destruction inflicted by the military government of Siyad Bare in 1988. When the 3.5 million people of Somaliland decided to withdraw from the failed union with former Italian-ruled Somalia in May 1991, nothing of economic value was left in country. They started literally from 'ground zero' to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, and reconstruct the physical and human infrastructure for their communities, unimpeded by any central authority.

To further consolidate their gains, the people of Somaliland have started to build the architecture for democratic institutions. A national constitution based on democratic principles has been drafted and was approved through a nation-wide referendum in early 2001. The framework for multi-party system has been set and first ever local government elections were held in 2002 in which the 3 current registered political parties gained the most votes as they were the only 3 parties that have wide support in all the regions of the republic. Somaliland decided to minimize the political parties to 3 in order not to repeat the the mistakes of earlier election process after the independence in 1960, in which political parties became tribal parties and in the process destroyed the fragile democracy of the infant nation. The goal of Somaliland democracy is to ensure all groups , regions are represented in the political process thus enforcing the political parties to invest and build grass root support in all the regions, cities and villages. Somaliland held it's first presidential election in May 2003 in which the margin of victory was 850 votes and resulted in the acceptance of the two other candidates the outcome of votes and the decision of the voters without bloodshed or extensive legal problems.

Somaliland’s accomplishments, important as they are, are also extremely fragile. Available resources are very limited and there is an obvious limit as to how far these local resources can take the country. The country also faces major restrictions in its normal commercial and economic interaction with the rest of the world because of the absence of international recognition. It cannot borrow externally, cannot access development assistance from development institutions like the World Bank, and has to pay up-front in hard currency for everything it imports. This puts undue burden on a private sector that has proven to be every bit as vibrant and innovative as any in Africa. Citizens face insurmountable difficulties in traveling abroad for business or personal purposes because the non-recognition of it’s travel documents. Somaliland is also denied recourse to redress its legitimate grievances in the international arena – illegal fishing in its waters, waste dumping and violation of its land and air space.

Somaliland has done what it could on its own, and is now appealing to the international community not to let its people down, who have played by the highest standards of international rules and acted with exceptional fortitude, but who face onerous difficulties due to the isolation brought about by non-recognition. It would be unfair to tie their fate to that of their brethren in the rest of the former Somali Republic which is still in turmoil. Legitimate as our case is, we are not even asking for outright recognition but an interim status which could allow us to have normal business and other interactions with the rest of the world. In particular, we are asking:

· Access to international development assistance and policy advice, including from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank.

· Access to guarantees and export credits from the EXIM to facilitate the entry of US firms into Somaliland economy; there are absolutely no legal or regulatory restrictions on the entry and operations of private firms, foreign or domestic.

· Ability to use Somaliland travel documents to business or personal travel, under reasonable set of conditions. This is proving to be a source of tremendous hardship for the people of Somaliland.

· Granting of an observer status at the United Nations, a practice which has considerable precedent; the people of Somaliland deserve no less.

Historical Background

· Somaliland gained independence on June 26 1960 and six days later joined Italian Somaliland (also known as Somalia) to form the Somali Republic. Prior to the union Somaliland had a small but efficient public service, a sound administrative structure, a peaceful and stable society, and a growing economy primarily based on livestock exports.

· On 21 October 1969, the military staged a coup d'etat in Mogadishu and installed a Marxist-leaning, Soviet-style form of government which lasted until January 1991 when it was ousted from power by a national uprising.

· During the whole of that period, Somaliland was not only politically and economically marginalized but the entire economy of the country was destroyed by a series of deliberate measures inflicted on the population by the military regime. Among these measures were:

o The imposition of a highly centralized economic system which particularly affected the private-enterprise-based economy of Somaliland.

o The denial of its fair share of development assistance despite the fact that during the military regime, the Somali Republic was one of the highest recipients of external confessional assistance.

o The wholesale destruction of Somaliland's social and economic infrastructure in May 1988 by an air and land bombardment launched by the regime's military forces. All fixed assets including schools, hospitals and production facilities were either totally destroyed or rendered inoperable. In Hargeisa alone, over 80% of housing and other building were destroyed according to UN estimates. All moveable assets, including anything of economic value were hauled away by the military. Even worse, tens of thousand of non-combatants were killed, many more wounded, and hundreds of thousands forced to flee for safety to neighbouring countries. This reign of terror was the beginning of the unraveling of the Somali republic as a functioning state

· When the military regime was ousted in January 1991, the people of Somaliland decided to withdraw from its union with ex-Italian Somaliland and revert to its former independent status. Fortunately, this enabled Somaliland to escape the chaos and anarchy that characterized conditions in Mogadishu and beyond.

· The people of Somaliland, unlike their brethren to the south, set as their first priority, the re-establishment of law and order and the restoration of peace and security throughout their territory.

Recent accomplishments

Since its withdrawal from the union 17 years ago, Somaliland has accomplished a number of major goals:

i. It has effected the demobilization of thousands of clan-based militias and the gradual absorption of many of them into the police, custodial and military services of the country.

ii. It has managed to confine to barracks the remainder of the militias pending the availability of resources and training programs to fit them for re-integration into civilian life.

iii. It has re-established various institutions of governance essential for stability and the restoration of democracy., including an elected executive presidency, a 81- cameral parliament, an independent judiciary, a constitution, the nucleus of a public service structure, the establishment of a national system of local administration with considerable regional autonomy, and strong and vibrant civil society role and community-based organizations.

Despite the near absence of external assistance and the destruction of its economic base, Somaliland has not only survived but has made remarkable strides towards restoring a measure of normalcy to its economy.

This revival has been based almost entirely on private initiative with the private sector owning and operating the main activities in almost every sector of the economy with a minimum of government control. The resulting competitive forces have made Somaliland highly competitive with its neighbours, particularly in the field of trade and telecommunications. There are four private telecommunications companies that make excellent international connections at rates several times lower than those in some neighbouring countries. Several private airlines started by local entrepreneurs provide domestic and international connections at highly competitive rates. Trade and real estate are booming in Hargeisa, the capital and other urban centres. Small-scale manufacturing activities are beginning to take hold, reflecting investor confidence in the stability of Somaliland. Exports of livestock, the main stay of the economy, is higher than total for the whole of former Somali Republic prior to its disintegration. Somaliland peace and stability had contributed more edcuational opprtunities for it's citizens instead of guns and is in contrasts to the continuing chaos in many parts of former Somalia,

The position of Somaliland is clear: we will not abandon our hard-won achievements, we will resist attempted subversions of our grass-roots based system of governance and the imposition of a rule that is not only externally-imposed but also completely top-down. We will not submit our fate to the brutality which is unfortunately part of the nature of many of the factions in Somalia. However, we are ready to work with and discuss future relationship with any legitimate entity that may emerge from Somalia.

Priority Needs of Somaliland.

· Consolidating peace, this would require of the international community to understand Somaliland's position with respect to the conclusions of the Djibouti conference-- that it is not bound by the results of that conference but that in the event a legitimate leadership emerges for the Southern part of former Somali Republic (Somalia) out of future deliberations, we are ready to sit down with them to discuss modalities for cooperation.

· Granting observer status at the United nations and other international bodies so that the people of Somaliland are not shut off from normal interaction with the rest of the world. It is unfair marginalizing the 3.5 million citizens of Somaliland simply because their brothers in the Southern part of former Somali Republic could not get their act together. While we would prefer outright recognition, we are also cognizant of international political realities that currently prevail and are willing to settle for an interim enhanced legal status temporarily such as that accorded to the Palestinian Authority. We have proven during the past decade that we deserve no less than that.

· Access to international development assistance, including from multi-lateral institutions like the World Bank. A similar recommendation was contained in a non- binding resolution by the US House of Representatives (Con. Res. 20) on October 26, 1999. This would enable Somaliland to undertake urgently needed reconstruction of the country's devastated physical infrastructure, rehabilitation of health and educational facilities all of which have been razed to the ground by the Siyad Bare regime before its collapse. It would also help strengthen the structures of government and upgrade the capability of public institutions. Somaliland has done as much as it could on its own limited resources could carry it. It cannot go much further without external support. A mechanism need to be found, beyond the legalisms of non- membership, whereby it can access assistance from international institutions whose function it is to help countries like Somaliland-possibly along the lines similar to those accorded the Palestinian Authority, Kosovo, etc.

· Access to guarantees and export credits by Export Credit agencies, such as the US Export-Import Bank, to firms that want to trade with, or invest in, Somaliland. This

· will not only reduce the cost of isolation to the private sector in Somalia but would open opportunities for international firms in a virgin territory which despite it's international status is considerably less risky than many developing countries.

· Ability to travel on Somaliland documents for business or personal purposes. This is an issue of top priority for the business community and the general public who are being forced by some of the nations to use either the old passports of the former Somali Republic or the newly created passport by the new Somali regime which was created in Kenya and has no authority or legitimacy any where and the added fact that these passports are either not accepted or can be obtained by any criminal, is a burden imposed on lawful citizens of Somaliland who are on legitimate missions. On the contrary, Somaliland has achieved registering it's voters and providing them identification cards that can be verified through biometrics means and all Somaliland passports issued have been scrutinised, recorded and verified by the authorities before given to the citizen and are issued to legitimate individuals only.