For decades Somaliland was basically the invisible man of countries. Not unrecognized by the UN, not ignored by Africa, Europe, or the Arab world. Ignored by everyone. Even other unrecognized countries!
In the bizarre pantheon of breakaway states and frozen conflicts, Somaliland was the lone wolf. No friends. No allies. No recognition. Just doing its own thing in silence.
That has now changed and changed for good…
Click for our take on unrecognized countries.
Table of Contents
The weird club of unrecognized states
Most unrecognized countries aren’t completely alone. They hang out in little clusters. Networks of mutual recognition. Places that understand the unrecognized life.
Take Taiwan. Recognized by a handful of UN members, sure, but it has de facto embassies, trade offices, military relationships everywhere that matters. On paper, unrecognized. In practice, unavoidable.
Western Sahara is another example. Not universally recognized, but it’s a full member of the African Union, recognized by dozens of states, with embassies and international participation. It isn’t invisible.
Then there’s the post-Soviet grey zone. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are recognized by a few UN members, mainly Russia. Those places in turn recognize Transnistria. Transnistria has zero UN recognition, but it’s recognized by states that themselves are recognized. Diplomatic inception. A weird little echo chamber, but at least it exists.
Why Somaliland was different
Somaliland didn’t play by these rules. Since 1991 it has run itself like a proper state. Elections, constitution, its own currency, police, army, control over its borders. Functionally, it’s better than Somalia by a country mile.
But no one recognized it. No UN member. No unrecognized entity either. Taiwan? Nope. Western Sahara? Nope. Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Nope. Transnistria? Nope.
It was the ultimate diplomatic orphan. The kid no one wanted on the playground. Completely invisible.
What has changed
Israel decided to recognize Somaliland. That’s it. One country. One recognition. From zero to one.
That sounds tiny, but it’s actually a massive symbolic shift. Somaliland is no longer the completely unacknowledged outlier. It now joins the same bracket as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The TRNC is recognized by exactly one country, Turkey. That single recognition doesn’t make it normal, but it removes total isolation.
Somaliland is now the same. One UN member recognizes it. Everyone else ignores it. Life in Hargeisa hasn’t changed. No embassies rushing in. No IMF loans. No magic passports, but the status label has changed.
Why this matters
Being recognized by no one was always an argument used against Somaliland. “See? Even other unrecognized states won’t acknowledge you. You don’t exist.” That argument is gone.
Somaliland is no longer the weirdest diplomatic anomaly on Earth. It is no longer the only functioning state that literally no one would even nod at. It now exists on the spectrum of partially recognized states, just at the bottom.
Does this mean everyone else will start recognizing it tomorrow? No. Africa won’t suddenly act. Somalia won’t surrender its claims. But in the strange, inconsistent, often hypocritical world of international recognition, going from zero to one actually means a lot.
Somaliland is no longer the least recognized country on Earth. And for once, that’s something worth noting.
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