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EDITORIAL
It doesn’t make any sense why none of the successive Somaliland governments tried to explore the prospects of establishing long-term mutually beneficial relations between Somaliland and the state of Israel. Our needs for reconstruction, development of our untapped natural resources and preservation of our security should have driven us to seek cooperation with a country like Israel. At times, the public was even let to believe that contacts were underway with the Jewish state, only to find out later that nothing of that sort had really taken place. It is high time that Somaliland initiated a dialogue with representatives of the Israeli government, in prelude to wider discussions involving that country’s civil society and business community.
Somaliland needs partners in drilling its oil and extracting its minerals. Somaliland’s long coast has substantial marine resources. Israel has both the expertise and capital needed for the developing those natural resources. Therefore, both countries stand to gain from joint projects in these fields. Moreover, as a people who had experienced genocide and with threats to our survival still looming large in the horizon, forming security cooperation with Israel makes a lot of sense.
Somaliland has no ill-feelings for any particular country in this region or beyond. It does not want to ally itself against a third party. But Somaliland needs to live peacefully and be able to defend its territorial waters and boundaries. If Israel could train Somaliland’s coast guards, why not ask them? With such possible economic and security benefits, and the majority of the population in support of such contacts, Somaliland's government is in a good position from which to start dialogue with Israel.
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