Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb 3, 2006 (Reuters) – Somalia's breakaway enclave of Somaliland deserves to be rewarded for creating peace from anarchy, but no one should confuse Ethiopia's establishment of trade links there as recognition of its bid for nationhood, Ethiopia's foreign minister said on Friday.

Ethiopia last year sent a formal delegation to the former British Somaliland and signed deals to boost cross-border trade and use the Berbera port, in what many saw as a tacit recognition of Somaliland's much-rebuffed bid for sovereignty.

The trade mission made it appear that, diplomatically, Ethiopia wanted to have it both ways: recognizing Somaliland while publicly supporting a unified Somalia.

"Somaliland or (the capital) Hargeysa has been an island of peace in a troubled ocean," Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told Reuters in an interview.

"In fact, the international community including our region was busy helping those who were destroying Somalia rather than those who were trying to build their region."

Somaliland has argued that 14 attempts to build government in Somalia since 1991 have only benefited warlords who thrive in the anarchic vacuum.

"But this does not in any way mean that Ethiopia or the rest of the international community has accepted the sovereignty of Somaliland," Seyoum said.

Backing a unified Somalia was an obligation Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa's top military power, and other regional countries made when they participated in peace talks to establish Somalia's current transitional federal government.

That position, backed by the international community, infuriated Somaliland, which feels its democratic elections, relative security and established government give it a far better case for statehood than greater Somalia.

"Hargeysa knows for historical reasons that Ethiopia would be last to give recognition to Somaliland," Seyoum said.

A longstanding pan-African diplomatic practice of respecting colonial borders at the time of independence has stymied Somaliland's plans.

This is despite the fact that for a few days before it joined the rest of Somalia to form the modern borders, Somaliland ruled for a few days inside the borders etched by British colonizers at independence in 1960.

Adding to Hargeysa’s fury was the fact that Ethiopia strongly backed President Abdillahi Yusuf, a former warlord in the rival Somali state of Puntland who had led attacks on Hargeysa in the past.

PEACEKEEPING STYMIED

Seyoum said Ethiopia stood ready to provide its soldiers to an African Union-backed peacekeeping force for Somalia, which has never got off the ground and has been a major source of friction keeping the Somali government split into two factions.

The participation of Ethiopia, a historic rival of Somalia, has exacerbated the problem.

The faction led by Yusuf supports the peacekeeping mission, while a group of MPs and warlords in the cabinet are against it and say the presence of foreign troops from neighboring countries -- Ethiopia in particular -- are a cause for war.

The United States, an ally of Addis Ababa, has said it would use its veto on the U.N. Security Council to bar the lifting of a long-standing arms embargo on Somalia, which would be required to allow foreign troops to bring their weapons into the country.

"I hope the international community would recognize the need of lifting the arms embargo on Somalia, at least for the peacekeepers," he said. "We have still failed to see the logic of not supporting a peacekeeping mission to Somalia."

The Somali government must have help if it hopes to establish security and development, which Seyoum said were essential for getting a rein on terrorists that now operate freely amid the anarchy.