Somaliland seeks special status from UNBy HARVEY MORRIS The president of Somaliland, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, has called for his self-declared republic to be accorded special status by the United Nations to allow it to pursue separate development outside Somalia. The former British Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991, fears being dragged back into the country's long-running civil war and is boycotting a peace conference in neighbouring Djibouti. Yesterday a new transitional parliament for Somalia, set up by the peace conference on Sunday, was due to hold its first session. Somaliland officials refuse to accept decisions made at Djibouti, while the international community is reluctant to endorse the balkanisation of the Horn of Africa by recognising Somaliland independence. "We accept the fact that the international community at the moment is not geared towards giving us sovereign recognition," Mr Egal said in an interview with the Financial Times. "So what we say is that, just like the Palestinians or the Kosovans or the people in Timor, we should be given a special status, an interim special status whereby we can at least deal with donors and the international financial institutions." The conference in Djibouti - former French Somaliland - opened in May, the 13th meeting to attempt to restore government in Somalia since the republic disintegrated when President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. While Somaliland has had a stable government since rival clans put aside their factional differences in 1997, the rest of the country - formerly Italian Somaliland - has been in the hands of a range of tribal and factional groups. The only other region with a working administration, Somaliland's eastern neighbour Puntland, also boycotted the Djibouti talks. The inauguration of the new parliament came after three months of discussions among delegates representing Somalia's clans. But some of the country's most powerful warlords and faction leaders have refused to support the Djibouti process. As Mogadishu is currently dominated by rival warlords and factional fighting continued this week in central Somalia, the proposed government may decide to set itself up in the provincial city of Baidoa. President Egal this month signed a new electoral law that aims to set up national political parties within 18 months, by which time a referendum will be held on a new Somaliland constitution. The president acknowledged he hoped for international support
for his bid for recognition, although he noted this would not
be a priority for Washington in election year.
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