Boundary-Making & Sovereignty in the Context of Unrecognised States, Emerging States & Sub-State Entities

A Sovereign State for Somaliland and What it Means for the Horn of Africa
Mr Abdillahi Mohamed Dualeh
Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs

Minister Abdillahi Duale will explain the situation of Somaliland.

Somaliland is regarded by the international community as a ‘self-declared independent state’ which remains part of the sovereign territory of Somalia. Somaliland is not recognised as a state in spite of the fact that it was a separate colonial entity (as a British protectorate), received its independence in its own right, voluntary joined in union with Somalia and, in 1991, voluntary re-constituted itself as an independent state.

Somaliland meets the established criteria for recognition as a state. It has a permanent population, a defined territory, a stable government and capacity to enter into relations with other states in the international community. It conforms with the African Union principle of respect for colonial borders.

Minister Duale will argue that the case of Somaliland is another illustration that decisions whether to recognise states are based on political, not legal considerations. In the case of Somalia key regional neighbours are seeking to further their own strategic interests and the wider international community is not prepared to challenge them.

He will point to the inconsistencies in the international community’s approach. Kosovo’s independence was championed by the West, in large part because of the oppression inflicted on the population by the Serb government of Slobodan Milosevic. But Somaliland’s independence has not been championed even though its people suffered far more gravely at the hands of the Somali government of Siyad Barre.

He will argue that Somaliland has earned the right to recognition through its creation of a stable and democratic state in an unstable neighbourhood. He will note the overwhelming backing that the constitution of Somaliland as an independent state received from the electorate in a referendum. He will point out that Somaliland cannot obtain meaningful consent to its withdrawal from the union with Somalia because of the absence of a government in Somalia.



Boundaries and the Exploitation of Natural Resources when States Fracture: Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland
Dr Derek C. Smith
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, USA

Boundary Arbitration of Substate Entities in Sudan: Impact of the Possibility of Independence for Southern Sudan
B. Donovan Picard
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, USA

Boundary Arbitration and Foreign Political Influence Under Conditions of Qualified Sovereignty: The Case of Bosnia
Edward B. Rowe
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, USA

These three speakers will address boundary making and sovereignty in the context of sub-state entities. A number of sub-state entities – political entities within a state that have a considerable degree of autonomy from the state in which they are located and possess attributes of sovereignty, including, in some cases, an asserted right of secession based on treaty or other theories of international law – have had a signficant and unappreciated role in redefining the concept of sovereignty. The existence of these sub-state entities raises numerous questions concerning their international legal rights and obligations. Boundary issues have figured prominently in this regard.

Three areas where the impact of boundary making on sovereignty in the context of sub-state entities is notable are the former Yugoslavia, Sudan, and Somalia. The district of Brèko owes its very creation as a separate entity within Bosnia-Herzegovina to an unusual boundary arbitration with the mandate simply of identifying the disputed portion of a boundary between two other entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Southern Sudan has its own government pursuant to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (“CPA”) between North and South Sudan, which provides for boundary delimitation in a number of important aspects. The determination of these boundaries are complicated by the existence of significant natural resources in the boundary regions. Similar issues could well arise with respect to Somaliland and Puntland in Somalia – two sub-state entities with operating, yet unrecognized governments within a recognized, yet failed state – if these sub-state entities assert greater degrees of sovereignty or are recognized by other states. The panel would use the sub-state entities in the former Yugoslavia, Sudan, and Somalia to address these and other important questions concerning boundary making and sovereignty.