Somaliland has been de facto independent for decades now. This is not a new situation and it is a fairly stable status quo.

They fought what was essentially a war of national liberation first against British colonialism and then again when the union with the former Italian colony of Somalia (a union which the British essentially forced them into as a condition for granting independence) turned sour. As with many of these post-colonial conflicts it has a complex history but what it boils down to is Europeans purposely leaving their former colonies in as unstable a situation as possible, with states and borders that were not established by the people living there but by their former colonizers.

Ilhan Omar, based on what little i have heard her say on this issue, appears to be a Somali nationalist, so she rejects Somaliland independence. In and of itself that is not a problem, people are entitled to have a political position about conflicts like this, especially when they have ties to the countries or people involved. I understand wanting to unite your people. But the problem is that she appears to want to use the power of the US and the pressure, diplomatic or otherwise, that the US government can exercise in the region to support her prefered policies in and around Somalia. This is a very bad idea.

The US has meddled in the region long enough, including with direct military intervention, and as usual wherever it gets involved it only made things worse and left death and destruction in its wake. The only thing that Somalis in the US should be lobbying their government for is to get the hell out of Africa, because only a naive child could believe that the US has benevolent intent. The interests which the US is pursuing there are neo-colonial and thus utterly against those of the African people, both those of Somalia and Somaliland.

As Marxist-Leninists we understand the importance of the national question and i’m sure someone with more knowledge of the region could help us understand how to apply a correct Marxist analysis to the Somalia-Somaliland situation to come to a conclusion about the right position for us to take. Should we be pro-independence or against, i don’t know, i haven’t studied this enough to have an informed opinion. But all that is a moot point, because Somalia can’t have real sovereignty as long as US troops and US (and EU) funded proxy forces are still there. First they need to be kicked out like the French were in Niger.