Somalia Rejects Talks Without Somaliland Commitment to Territorial Integrity

[Deeq A.]

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ordered the scaling down of the Office of Somaliland Envoy in Mogadishu.

Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — One year after the Somaliland administration signed a maritime Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ethiopia, the new administration in Hargeisa seeks to restart talks with the Federal Government of Somalia. The President of the Somaliland administration, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has formed a cabinet that overwhelmingly supports resetting relations with Mogadishu to regain lost diplomatic ground.

Following the Somaliland presidential elections in 2024, Mohamud Adam Jama ‘Galal’, a spokesman for the Waddani party who has recently been appointed as the Somaliland administration’ s representative in Taiwan, told the media that the new administration would review the maritime MoU with Ethiopia.

“Waddani views the maritime MoU as a misguided approach used by former Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi to cover up his leadership failures and seek political capital ahead of the 2024 presidential elections” said a researcher at a think tank in Hargeisa.

The Federal Government of Somalia reportedly scaled down the Office of the Somaliland Envoy, which was tasked in 2023 with nationwide consultations on talks with the Somaliland administration. Abdikarim Guled, the head of  the Office of Somaliland Envoy , visited Galmudug in 2023 as part of the consultations tour during the Laascaanood conflict. Guled categorically rejected a claim by former Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi based on colonial borders as the basis for secession.

President of Somaliland Administration Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi expressed interest in resuming Somalia-Somaliland talks.

President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh urged the President of Somalia to resume talks with Somaliland administration one year after the 2022 wedding ceremony in Djibouti. Efforts by President Guelleh paved the way for the December 2023 Somalia-Somaliland Agreement in Djibouti. The agreement treated the Somaliland administration as a separate entity and revived previous agreements that contained a clause on “non-politicisation of aid”, which President Bihi had used to justify signing the MoU with Ethiopia.

The maritime MoU soured relations between Somalia and Ethiopia before the 2024 Ankara Agreement, which commits Addis Ababa to respecting the territorial integrity of Somalia and seeking commercial access to the sea lawfully.

The maritime MoU exposed the absence of clear principles guiding Somalia-Somaliland talks. While elites in Mogadishu viewed Somaliland’s representation in federal institutions as an expedient move, the secessionist administration interpreted the arrangement as an endorsement of its secession claim based on colonial borders.

The Federal Government of Somalia had rebuffed calls to resume talks with Somaliland administration. “The guiding principle of any future talks will have to commit the Somaliland administration to abiding by its obligations to respect the territorial integrity and political independence of Somalia” said a senior adviser to the Federal Government of Somalia.

At Dire Dawa, where the recognition of Xeer Ciise customary law by UNESCO as a part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity was being celebrated,  the Ethiopian government denied a delegation from the Somaliland administration the opportunity to deliver a speech on the occasion. Instead, a delegation from the Federal Government of Somalia was given the podium.

© Puntland Post,2025

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