Joined @elizabethpipko on @News24Aust .
Covered @Ilhan's late father (full colonel under Siad Barre, served in Hargeisa), the #IsaaqGenocide, and how perpetrators later entered the U.S. as refugees.
Somalia’s Defence Minister Defends Ilhan Omar Against Trump Allegations
https://t.co/9vLfU6TMEF
“She left #Somalia, and the reason she is being targeted by the conservative team, ‘Trump and his team,’ is because she comes from Somalia,” Fiqi said.
Saeed Ibrahim questions Rep. Ilhan Omar's account of her family's refugee history, weighing in on reports that her father served as a colonel under Somali dictator Siad Barre.
@SchmittNYC
Hundreds gathered in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, waving American and Somaliland flags after President Trump described Somaliland as "a totally different country" from Somalia. I welcome his acknowledgment of Somaliland's distinct identity. Since restoring its independence in 1991, Somaliland has built democratic institutions, held competitive elections, and demonstrated its commitment to democracy through peaceful transfers of power, most recently in 2024. The United States should now take the next step and formally recognize Somaliland as an independent nation.
https://t.co/x6SQdBhdM0
🇺🇸A STRIKING CONTRAST: A video circulating online shows men in #Somaliland military uniforms proudly waving the American flag during celebrations in Hargeisa, while earlier footage purportedly shows a #Somalia soldier stepping on the U.S. flag.
Two contrasting scenes involving the American flag in Somaliland and Somalia.
The Government of the Republic of Somaliland welcomes President Trump’s acknowledgement of Somaliland as a distinct country.
We look forward to deepening engagement with his Administration on shared interests in regional peace, security, and trade.
https://t.co/IhYNqerCL7
Trump:
I call it Somalia land, not Somaliland, because actually it's a totally different country. Some people like Somaliland that has nothing to do. You know that has nothing to do. I said, you got to be kidding. I think they should change the name immediately.
A productive multi‑stakeholder consultation meeting on the FGM/C Bill was held yesterday, led by Hon. Marwo Milgo Mohamed, Minister of Labor, Social Affairs & Family (MOLSAF), together with Marwo Aamina Elmi Fariid, Chairwoman of the Social Affairs Committee of the Parliament
After a few days in Somaliland, meeting government ministers, local administrators, soldiers, port officials, business people and ordinary Somalilanders, I leave with one overriding impression: this is a country waiting to exhale.
It is not perfect and no country is. Somaliland’s politics are contested but have passed the test, its institutions need development, and its eastern disputes need careful handling.
However, the basic fact is hard to escape. Somaliland governs itself. It has built order from collapse, held competitive elections, maintained functioning institutions, secured its own streets, and developed Berbera into a strategic asset on one of the world’s most important maritime corridors.
Recognition would simply be the formal acknowledgement of a reality that already exists.
The contrast with Somalia makes this even more obvious. The internationally recognised state next door continues to absorb billions in aid, diplomatic attention and security assistance while remaining unable to impose authority across its own territory. Huge tracts of Somalia are run by Al Shabab, the government barely controls Mogadishu, and even then, their leader is a Muslim Brotherhood extremist. Yet Somaliland, which has done so much more with so much less, is left in legal limbo.
That limbo now serves no serious strategic purpose. It complicates investment, constrains security cooperation, weakens maritime partnerships, and leaves a stable, pro-Western polity exposed while others shape the Red Sea corridor.
The people I met did not speak like petitioners asking for a favour but as citizens of a country that has earned its place. There is pride here, but also impatience. Somaliland is not asking the world to invent a state. It is asking the world to recognise the one that has existed, in practice, for more than three decades.
Recognition can only be a good thing: for Somaliland, for Britain, and for a region that badly needs functioning partners. We need to make a choice. Other countries like China in Djibouti and Turkey in Somalia are already shaping the strategic picture. Do we want to sit back and let them do so in a strategic part of the world, or do we want to have an influence? If so, doing the right thing and recognising Somaliland serves both their interests as well as ours.
'Somaliland increasingly becoming aware of its own geostrategic importance in times that are characterized by global upheaval'
@JAbdi892 with @Nicole_Zedeck on #MiddleEastNow
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To my fellow citizens of the Republic of Somaliland, home & abroad, I extend my sincere greetings and appreciation, and convey my best wishes for enduring peace, stability, and prosperity.
This is the signal many were waiting for: Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser on the Middle East and Africa, has effectively removed the US veto on Somaliland’s recognition!