Somaliland gathering support for recognition: official

ADDIS ABABA, 19 May 2007 - Breakaway Somaliland is gaining ground in its quest for international recognition as an independent nation, the region's foreign minister said Thursday.

"I'm back from a European tour in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, EU, where we have explained our point of view. These countries are listening to us," Abdelahi Duale told AFP during a stopover at Addis Ababa.

"We also have officially recognised offices in South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Belgium and the UK," he said.

Somaliland, which sits on the northwestern part of Somalia, unilaterally broke away from the rest of the Horn of Africa nation in 1991, four months after the overthrow of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The former British protectorate's colonial rulers left in 1960 when it joined with Italian Somaliland to form the then new state of Somalia.

It has since mapped out a path of relative security and prosperity, unlike greater Somalia, where Barre's ouster sparked a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability over the past 16 years.

"For 16 years, we are a de facto state with our own flag, our own currency, our constitution. We'll never take a no to our independance for an answer," he said.

Source: AFP