The Role of the European Union in a Non-Recognized Context. The Case of Somaliland (1991-2018)

Somaliland, the small enclave of the Horn of Africa, declared its independence unilaterally from Somalia in 1991. Since then the region has gone through a long local process of pacification, state reconstruction and democratization. These objectives had the purpose of achieving international recognition based on the idea that democratization and stabilization would attract the attention of major regional and international actors who would value the difference of Somaliland from the rest of Somalia, which was living in a context of chaos in the 1990s. Since its de facto independence, the country has not been recognized by any state in the world. Nevertheless, and although it may be contradictory, Somaliland maintain relations with different states, actors and internal institutions. The European Union, although it does not formally recognize Somaliland as an independent country, does maintains relations at different levels such as cooperation and development, military missions, promotion of democracy and good governance and even supports educational, health and gender programs in order to improve the living conditions of the region’s population. This research analyses EU-Somaliland relations, the policies carried out by Brussels in the region and the situation regarding international recognition. To this end, an in-depth review of the bibliography has been carried out. Furthermore, official documentation, reports, press documents and elections results have been used for this study.