Returning from a European tour, Somaliland’s Foreign Minister announced that the country is now on its way to international recognition.

Below are extracts from an article published by the Sudan Tribune:

May 17, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Breakaway Somaliland is gaining ground in its quest for international recognition as an independent nation, the region’s foreign minister said Thursday [17 May 2007].

"I’m back from a European tour in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, EU, where we have explained our point of view. These countries are listening to us," Abdelahi Duale told AFP during a stopover at Addis Ababa.

"We also have officially recognised offices in South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Belgium and the UK," he said.

Somaliland, which sits on the northwestern part of Somalia, unilaterally broke away from the rest of the Horn of Africa nation in 1991, four months after the overthrow of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The former British protectorate’s colonial rulers left in 1960 when it joined with Italian Somaliland to form the then new state of Somalia.

It has since mapped out a path of relative security and prosperity, unlike greater Somalia, where Barre’s ouster sparked a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability over the past 16 years.

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