Somaliland-Somalia talks: Historical background, process and prospects

Talks among states or among states and non-state actors are mainly secession talks or peace talks (conflict resolution). The purpose of the secession talks is to determine the future relations of two territories – whether they will stay united or separate into two states. Moreover, Negotiations are a crucial part in the process of recognizing new states. Most of the newly seceded, and then, internationally recognized states achieved this position through dialogue. This thesis examines the dialogue process between the Government of Somaliland and the Federal Government of Somalia that started in London in 2012 and collapsed in Istanbul in 2015. The former Somaliland British Protectorate and the former Italian Somaliland united on 1 July 1960, after gaining their independence from Britain and Italy (Italian Somaliland being under UN Mandated Italian Trusteeship) on 26 June and 1 July 1960, respectively, and thus forming the Somali Republic. After a 30-year long union, the central government of Somalia collapsed in 1991, when armed rebel groups, after a brutal civil war, ousted the late military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Consequently, Somaliland announced its secession from Somalia on 18 May 1991, and the two countries were separate ever since. Since the 2012 London Conference on Somalia, six round talks took place in London, Dubai, Ankara, Istanbul (twice) and Djibouti. However, the seventh round (Istanbul III) failed in January 2015 and then, the collapse of the entire dialogue process followed. The factors that led to the collapse of the talks include distant political positions, domestic and external pressure, lack of implementation of the previous agreements and unaddressed grievances and injustices.