When does a population deserve to have its desire for
independence recognized?
For one example, take a look at this article on an issue barely visible to Americans: whether the Somaliland region of Somalia should or should not become an independent state.
RECOGNITION OF SOMALILAND IS GOOD FOR SOMALIA
By Guled IsmailWednesday, December 26, 2007
If there is one issue that
unites Somalia’s famously quarrelsome politicians, elites and ordinary clansmen
it is the issue of Somaliland’s secession: They oppose it to a man, child and
warlord.
Members of the ineffectual but secular Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) oppose Somaliland’s secession as vehemently as the most
fanatical of its Islamist enemies.
What drives this determination
to keep Somaliland into Somalia’s death embrace remains unclear.
The full text of Guled Ismail's article is well worth thinking about.
Further information on this issue from readers would be welcome...
3 comments:
Somaliland deserves to be recognized by the International community as soon as possible. The region is in chaos and Somaliland is the only survivor for the moment.
Yes, Somaliland has the right to win the recognition becuase it controls its borders with Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti, and because it existed in 1960 before the union with Somalia.
My thanks to Rooble Mohamed for his thoughtful remarks.
Perhaps world governance would be improved if we had a set of principles to guide decisions about which groups desiring independence will be allowed to have it. The control of borders and the history of the movement are two principles well worth considering.
Anyone care to suggest others?
Thank you Roobleh and William.
The recognition business is highly subjective and political. It is also often unjust as the case of Somaliland proves.
Nearly 20 new countries have been allowed to emerge in Europe over the last eighteen years most of them with far less historic or legal claim to nationhood than Somaliland.
No wonder Somalilanders feel aggrieved and bitterly accuse the world of being institutionally racist.
Ahmed
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