Press statement: Copenhagen Conference
19 November 2014
The Government of the Republic of Somaliland would like to praise the Government of Denmark for hosting the Ministerial High Level Partnership Forum on the Somali Compact, which is taking place in Copenhagen on 19 and 20 November. It is an important forum to review the progress of the Somali Compact. However the Government of Somaliland will not be participating.
Instead, our focus is the Somaliland Special Arrangement, which is a unique and distinct part of the Somali Compact, with its own reporting mechanism. The 7th High Level Aid Coordination Forum, held in Hargeisa earlier this month, jointly endorsed Somaliland’s Annual Report for 2014 on the Somaliland Special Arrangement. The High Level Aid Coordination Forum is Somaliland’s platform for reviewing, planning and monitoring the implementation of the Somaliland Special Arrangement.
Somaliland would welcome the opportunity for a higher-level international platform, on a par with the Copenhagen conference, to advance the Special Arrangement. We are hopeful that the international community will consider giving this platform to Somaliland, as it has done for Somalia, in line with its own New Deal principles of “do no harm” and “conflict sensitivity”.
Somaliland also hopes that the international community will play a more active role in supporting the Dialogue process between Somalia and Somaliland, which is currently being facilitated by Turkey. Somaliland recognizes the importance of continued dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia to resolve our differences. We consider it essential for promoting future peace, stability and cooperation in the Horn of Africa region. We seek to strengthen this process, which was agreed at the London Conference on Somalia in 2012, with the international community.
The ultimate aim is for the two countries to clarify their future relations. We draw attention to the fact that one of the issues to be discussed is how Somaliland can participate in international meetings concerning, amongst other things, the Horn of Africa as a peer to Somalia.
Finally, we note our gratitude to Denmark and the UK who, as a vote of confidence, worked closely with Somaliland to establish the Somaliland Development Fund in 2012. This is the Government’s preferred funding mechanism and the perfect example of the New Deal in action. The UK and Denmark have since been joined by Norway and the Netherlands. Somaliland encourages its international partners to use the Fund for its financial development assistance.
We hope that more donors will visit Somaliland to see for themselves the progress that we have made and we look forward to welcoming their representatives to Hargeisa.
There are many lessons that can be learned from the successes and achievements Somaliland has demonstrated in effective, peaceful and sustainable bottom-up state-building over the last 23 years.
The Republic of Somaliland remains supportive of all efforts to promote peace, state building and economic development in the Horn of Africa. Somaliland has been called a beacon of hope in a troubled region, and understands that continued peace, stability and development in Somaliland is vital for its own people, the region, and the international community.
Notes to Editors
For all media queries, or requests for interviews with H.E. Mohamed Bihi Yonis, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Somaliland, please contact:
• Ben Young, ben.young@portland-communications.com, +44 (0) 20 7842 0113
Somaliland has been campaigning to achieve international recognition as an independent nation state since 1991. Somaliland maintains that recognition would not only bring major benefits to the people of Somaliland; it would directly serve the vital strategic interests of the international community. By accepting Somaliland’s strong legal case for recognition, the international community would enhance security, drive economic development and entrench democracy in one of the world’s most unstable regions.
You can follow the Government on Twitter at @SomalilandGovt