Somaliland!

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For How Long Could Somaliland Survive the Dilemma of the Tribes?

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Britain withdrew from its protectorate in Somaliland on 26 June 1960 after 76 years of colonization that began in 1884. The British-Somaliland then joined the Italian-Somaliland on 1st July 1960 to form the Somali Republic.

The Somali National Movement (SNM) took arms against Siad Barre earlier and declared Somaliland-Republic on 1991 to gain self-sovereignty. The first president of the new state was Abdurrahman Ahmed Ali Tuur. Then the Grand Conference of National Reconciliation in Borama appointed Muhammad Haj Ibrhim Egal in 1993 as president.

Egal was re-elected in 1997, and remained in power until his death on May 3, 2002. The vice president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, became president shortly afterwards. Kahin was the first Somaliland-president in a free and fair election on 2003.

The people of the new state had rebelled against the Siad Barre dictatorship in Mogadishu, which prompted a massive reaction by the government. Abderahman Ahmed Ali Tuur was the first president of in the new state. Muhammad Haj Ibrhim Egal was appointed his successor in 1993 by the Grand Conference of National Reconciliation in Boorama (Borama), which met for four months and led not only to a gradual improvement in security, but solidified the fledgling state.

Egal was re-elected in 1997, and remained in power until his death on May 3, 2002. The vice president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, was sworn in as president shortly afterwards, and in 2003 Kahin became the first president to be elected in a free and fair election. The 2006 war in Somalia between the Islamic Courts Union and the forces of Ethiopia and Somalia's transitional government has not directly affected Somaliland.

Somaliland has formed a hybrid system of governance under the Constitution of the new state, combining traditional and western institutions. In a series of inter-clan conferences, culminating in the Boorama Conference in 1993, a qabil (clan or community) system of government was constructed, which consisted of an Executive, with a President, Vice President, and Council of Ministers, a bicameral Legislature, and an independent judiciary.

The traditional Somali council of elders (guurti) was incorporated into the governance structure and formed the upper house, responsible for selecting a President as well as managing internal conflicts. Government became in essence a "power-sharing coalition of Somaliland's main clans", with seats in the Upper and Lower houses proportionally allocated to clans according to a predetermined formula, although not all clans are satisfied with this formula of government. In 2002, after several extensions of this interim government, Somaliland finally made the transition to multi-party democracy, with district council elections contested by six parties.

Somaliland has political contact with the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Belgium, Ghana, South Africa, Sweden and Djibouti. On January 17, 2007, the European Union sent a delegation for foreign affairs to discuss future cooperation. The African Union has also sent a foreign minister to discuss the future of international acknowledgement, and on January 29 and January 30, 2007, the ministers said that they would discuss acknowledgement with other member states.

In June 2007, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi held a conference with President Kahin during which he was referred to in an official communiqué by the Ethiopian Foreign Minister as the President of the new state, the first time that the new state has been officially acknowledged as a sovereign state by another government. While this is not claimed as a move to official recognition by Ethiopia, it is seen as a possible step towards a unilateral declaration by Ethiopia in the event of the African Union failing to move its recognition of Somaliland forward.

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A delegation led by the President of the new state was present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. On November 27, 2007, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck of the ELDER, one of three main parties in EU, mailed a letter to Javier Solana (the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU) and Dahir Rayale Kahin the president of the new state, in which there is required an acknowledgement of the new state by EU. In December 2007 the Bush administration discussed whether to back the shaky transitional government in Somalia or to acknowledge and support the less volatile Somaliland secessionists.

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