Mogadishu (PP Report) — In March 2022 James Elroy Risch sponsored Somaliland Partnership Act bill. The bill obliges “the Department of State to annually report to Congress on U.S. assistance to Somaliland. The State Department must also report to Congress on the feasibility of establishing a U.S.-Somaliland partnership, including opportunities for collaboration on regional security issues.” The bill refers to Somaliland as “the territory within Somalia that has been a self-declared independent and sovereign state since 1991 that is not internationally recognized.”
Not only did the bill mention the unilateral secession of Somaliland but it wrongly conferred a sovereign status on the secessionist administration. Only the Federal Republic of Somalia is a sovereign state, but for geopolitical reasons American lawmakers decided to redefine the Westphalian system to violate the sovereignty of Somalia. The big elephant in the room is the Federal Government of Somalia whose leadership colluded with the secessionist administration to implement a security partnership between the United States and a secessionist entity that forcibly displaced more than 1500 Somali citizens in Laascaanood in 2021, and is now waging a secession war in Northern Somalia to enforce pre-independence colonial borders.
An amended bill will “require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports to Congress on the assistance provided to Somaliland and to conduct a feasibility study, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, on establishing a security partnership with Somaliland, without recognizing Somaliland as an independent state.” Somaliland administration does not only reject the sovereignty of Somalia but it is also in territorial dispute with Puntland, a Federal Member State.
America indirectly encouraged the Somaliland administration to aggressively pursue its secessionist agenda. “Congress. Members of Congress must not view themselves as having the power to determine the borders of black-African countries or recognize secessionist regimes in Africa. Such actions will destabilize Africa” wrote Dr. Karl Von Batten of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C.
On 7 April 2023 the United States Government issued an executive order on measures to deal with “threat [from Somalia] to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. Ten months ago, the US policy on Somalia sought to deepen security partnership with a sub-national, secessionist administration. The American government policy has exposed what a constitutional expert views as a treason committed by the incumbent administration of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud whose government had given the US government the green light to establish security partnership with a secessionist administration. “President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud failed to discharge his constitutional duties to speak out against the violation of the sovereignty of Somalia by the United States of America Government through Somaliland Security Partnership. Former Somalia Presidents and Prime Ministers should not be coming across as indifferent to the betrayal of sovereignty” said a constitutional lawyer in Mogadishu.
© Puntland Post, 2023
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