For 22 years Somaliland was trying to get recognized, but the government representing the people rarely put a fully fledged effort to get recognition. Somaliland is trying to be their independent country recognized as Somaliland not as Somalia. Somaliland has its own parliament, president and currency which are Somaliland Shillings. They are also very peaceful unlike Somalia, but still the world doesn’t want to recognize it. This unrecognized independent republic is facing a lot of major issues. Some of them are Somaliland‘s passports and the aid that other countries provide.
Most of the people in
Somaliland have a Somaliland passport, which is a big disadvantage for them. Somaliland has their own
passport, but it isn’t recognized by any country. Djibouti and Ethiopia
recognize it and accept it as an official pass through certificate. Somaliland
isn’t recognized so no country will accept their passport. It is easy for
people that aren’t in Somaliland to travel to wherever they want in an easy
way; they can just use their passports. But Somaliland’s people need to get an
official recognized passport to get into other countries. This passport issue
is what led the Somaliland’s civilians to flee from their country in illegal
way. To get into other countries they mostly use boats or hide in the ships
that are carrying animals to go to other countries, a lot of Somaliland’s
teenagers died in this horrible way.
Another
major issue that Somaliland is facing is the aid that they need from other
countries but they never get it. Usually countries can’t give aid to Somaliland
because they aren’t recognized, so they just give it to the capital Somalia.
Some countries actually want to help Somaliland but they can’t give them the
aid openly. There are MANY poor and homeless people in Somaliland who need a lot
of help and aid too.
One
of the major setbacks that Somaliland is facing is the lack of effort of their government.
The Somaliland’s government officials don’t try their best to improve their
country in the greatest way that they can. They usually only import a lot and
export very little. The only thing they export is animals. Another hinder is
the clan system. There are a lot of educated people in Somaliland but if they aren’t
in the “right” clan that everybody wants they wouldn’t be elected, and for the
most part that’s the case. They don’t use those intelligent and educated people
to help their country. That’s what always leads the educated people in
Somaliland to leave the country and search for appropriate jobs for themselves.
If I
was one of the important leaders in Somaliland then I would have done a lot. First
I would have tried my best to give all the important positions in the government
to talented and educated people, choose them based on expertise not on clans. Then
work most of the time on figuring out ways to help the country to get
recognized as soon as possible. Also work a lot on improving the living
standards in the country. Fixing the roads and expanding the country is the
most important ones. If we also try our best on getting fixed relationships
with foreign countries would have helped a lot.
If Somaliland
was soon to be recognized its entire foremost issues would have been solved. The biggest ones as I mentioned earlier are
the passports and the aid that they are getting from other countries. When will
this country rest and get what it wants? Until when will their only answer be”stay
hopeful”? Until when do we have to wait and fight? As people say “There is light at the end of
the tunnel”, I am very sure that Somaliland will get recognized if they try to
work on the issues that they are avoiding. Also trying their absolute hardest
to overcome the obstacles, that is blocking them from reaching the far away
light that they were yielding for a very long time.
Bibliography
J.N.L. "Mo money mo problems." The
Economist (2011).
Kibble, Steve. Somaliland:
Surviving without Recognition; Somalia: Recognized but Failing. London:
London Memorial Institute , 2001.
