In order to adorn the twilight of his presidency with a success story in his self-proclaimed ‘War on Terror’, President Bush should implement a high-intensity, Fast Track policy for Somalia and Somaliland that pushes the former towards stability and rewards the latter for its significant achievements over the past decade. Fast tracking Somaliland recognition will send a shock wave to Somalia, and send a clear message that peace and prosperity can be rewarded without the need to use overpowering military force. To date, efforts to resolve the crisis that has blighted Somalia have been half hearted and misconceived. Meanwhile, the Horn of Africa’s beacon of stability – Somaliland – continues to toil in relative anonymity, receiving little recognition for its remarkable progress towards creating a viable, stand-alone state.
Somaliland has succeeded where the TFG has failed because it possesses precisely those attributes that Somalia lacks: democratically elected institutions with domestic legitimacy, institutions that serve as a repository of nationalism and sovereignty etc. Fighting terrorism is therefore a domestic priority (it was enshrined in the constitution long before 9/11) since extremist violence threatens the institutions of statehood and the common aspiration to international recognition.
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