Muse Behi Abdi, president of Somaliland, speaks at the presidential palace in Hargeisa on October 10,2018. Pawan Singh / The National
Muse Behi Abdi, president of Somaliland, speaks at the presidential palace in Hargeisa on October 10,2018. Pawan Singh / The National
DP World’s $442 million expansion of Berbera port in Somaliland will put the breakaway state on the path to formal independence from Somalia, its president has said.
The Horn of Africa state declared independence in 1991, when Somali president Mohamed Siad Barre fell and Somalia erupted into chaos. But in the intervening years, its campaign for international recognition has fallen on deaf ears.
Today, Somaliland has many of the attributes of a sovereign state, including its own military and police forces, a functioning government and institutions and its own currency, the Somaliland shilling.
Yet Somalia still claims ownership over the territory, although its tangible influence there is minimal. “Somalia cannot interfere in our affairs,” Somaliland President Muse Behi Abdi told The National. “Mogadishu has no control over our country.”
Mr Abdi and his government expect the DP World development — designed to transform Berbera into the Horn of Africa’s most significant port — to bring international recognition as other global investors and governments follow the Dubai-based port operator’s example.
“DP World is a big international company that dared to come to Somaliland, and I hope that a lot of other companies will follow,” he said.