Subhead:Somaliland’s opposition spokesman calls on the U.S. president to formally recognise his country.#
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Reporting from Somaliland in the Horn of Africa, I’ve come to show Western audiences a reality they are rarely allowed to see: a functioning democracy operating calmly in one of the world’s most volatile regions, despite being unrecognised for more than three decades.
On the ground in Hargeisa, I met with Mustafe Isse, better known as Mustafe Shiine, the Afhayeenka (spokesperson) for Somaliland’s opposition Kulmiye Party. A former minister and information director, Mustafe now represents a political culture that prides itself on peaceful transitions of power.
He explained that Somaliland’s political life is built on persuasion rather than force. Leaders campaign on “capacity and capability”, not intimidation. When governments lose elections, they step aside. “We come to power, we leave it peacefully,” he told me, describing a democratic norm that stands in sharp contrast to neighbouring states.
Somaliland declared independence in 1991 after the collapse of Somalia’s Siad Barre regime. The years before that were brutal. Mustafe said more than 200,000 people were killed when the former government bombed cities such as Hargeisa. Accusations that Somalilanders were linked to Jews or Israel were used to justify the violence, fuelling hatred across the region.
