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Despite initial press reports that it was US warplanes that bombed Somaliland's Eibaat Island last Sunday, the Somaliland government apparently has not until now been able to confirm the identity of the aircrafts that were involved in the attack. This is understandable since Somaliland doesn’t have the capability to detect whether its airspace has been violated, let alone the ability to identify the aircrafts flying over its territory. But since Eibaat is located within the proximity of an area heavily guarded by American military, there are good reasons to believe that the warplanes that carried out the bombing were US owned.
It is of course true that the US is not the only power in the area that has the capability to make an air strike on Eibaat. The French also have such capabilities. But it was the US that, for the last month, has been engaged in intensive joint military exercises in the area, involving units from the 3 branches of their armed forces deployed in the wider region. Regardless of whoever was responsible for the attack on Eibaat, Somaliland’s territorial integrity has been violated and its marine resources damaged by outside military forces. What is disturbing to many Somalilanders is that not only their territory has been violated, but they are unable to establish whom they should hold accountable?
The Somaliland public has also been dismayed with the government's slow and inadequate response to the incident. Nobody expected the government to take retaliatory measures, simply because Somaliland does not have the military ability to challenge the powerful western forces stationed at its northwestern borders. Nor would have it been wise for the government to issue a barrage of condemnations. Though the US and France have not yet recognized Somaliland, the American government does not oppose the right of Somalilanders to exercise their self-determination. What is needed now is for the Somaliland government to accelerate its investigation and diplomatic contacts in order to find out the truth about what happened at Eibaat. The people of Somaliland hope that American diplomats and military officials stationed in the region will cooperate with the Somaliland government in its endeavor to solve the mysterious attack on Eibaat Island.
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