America is repeating its Somalia mistakes in Yemen
Somalia collapsed in 1991, its economy and state structures destroyed by dictator Siad Barre, a man with no legitimacy beyond his clan but who had for decades grifted first off Moscow and then Washington. He fled first to Kenya and then Nigeria, where he died in exile four years later.
As Somalia descended into state failure, one region stood aloof: Somaliland. Once independent, Somaliland recognized that its stability and security depended on its self-determination and so reasserted its independence.
SOMALILAND EYES UP A DEAL WITH TRUMP IN RETURN FOR US RECOGNITION
Today, Somaliland has been independent of Somalia for longer than it was ever part of it. While kleptocracy and militias continue to dominate Mogadishu and much of the rest of Somalia, and Somalia has never held free, one-person, one-vote elections, Somaliland embraced democracy. It was the world’s first country to secure voter registration with biometric iris scans; voters decided one presidential election by less than 100 votes out of more than 1 million cast.
While foreigners cannot walk the streets of Mogadishu or the Somali port city of Kismayo, Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, and port city Berbera are safe; my then-9-year-old daughter walked around the capital without security, annoying locals by trying to play with livestock, and went swimming in the Gulf of Aden during a siesta.