The reaction among the international community to Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is often posed as an issue of the UN Charter or international law. Many statements point to recognition violating the “sovereignty” or “territorial integrity” of Somalia.
However, the reality is that Somalia’s borders, like many countries in Africa and the Middle East, are rooted in the colonial era.
In many cases, European powers colonized these countries for only a brief time, sometimes decades. The colonial authorities usually drew lines on maps that didn’t necessarily have any historic roots. Then, when the empires ended in the 1960s, these countries were trapped with these borders.
The result of the European meddling in Africa led to the forcible unity of many areas under various flags. The result has been that anytime people want to change their borders, they are told they are violating “international law,” which often means changing borders that European countries drew between 1890 and 1960.
Somaliland forced to remain in its colonial borders
Somaliland is one clear example. Back in the 1880s, much of Africa remained uncolonized, including Somalia. However, only a few decades later, the continent’s current borders had largely been drawn, mostly by France and the UK, with input from Germany, Portugal, Spain, and a few others.
The borders of the area we call Somaliland have origins in British Somaliland. The area had various tribes and sultanates for years, coming under British influence and then power between 1884 and 1920.
There had been a Dervish rebellion in the area as well. It was later invaded by the Italians in 1940 and recaptured by the British in 1941.
Italy had moved into Somalia in the 1880s and invaded neighboring Ethiopia. It was defeated by Ethiopia in 1896 but conquered Ethiopia during the Mussolini fascist era. The modern borders of Somalia and Ethiopia largely owe themselves to this era.
British Somaliland was independent briefly in June 1960 but became an autonomous region within Somalia.
In 1969, there was a coup and Siad Barre rose to power in Somalia. An authoritarian, he engaged in a war with Ethiopia and also bombed the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa in 1988. As such, Somaliland was only part of Somalia from 1960-1991. It declared independence in 1991, but countries around the world have forced it to remain in its colonial borders.
In many cases, the colonial borders of other countries have led to war and genocide. South Sudan, which is mostly non-Muslim, was forced into massacre for years for trying to leave Sudan. Biafra was subjected to massacres in Nigeria.
The Congo, another colonial anachronism, has suffered numerous wars such as in Katanga and eastern Congo. In Rwanda there was a genocide.
Attempts to shoehorn other areas into larger states has also been problematic. Zanzibar was made part of Tanzania. The Western Sahara was taken over by Morocco after the colonial power left. Gambia is a small country that is largely just a river basin, while the Congo is also a massive country for similar colonial-era reasons.
The impact of colonial empires on the Middle East and Asia
Further afield, empires created all sorts of other decisions. The UAE is a state today rather than several countries at least in part because of the role of the British in the Gulf.
The same could be said for Kuwait. The Kurdistan region of Iraq was denied independence and shoehorned into Iraq because of the colonial authorities.
The Golan Heights is seen as part of Syria only because of a similar accident of history. There’s no logical reason it shouldn’t have been part of British Mandate-era Palestine. As such, it didn’t become part of Israel because it was part of French-occupied Syria.
Modern-day Malaysia looks the way it does in part because of how it was incorporated into the Straits Settlements under British rule due to the British East India Company.
It passed to become a British crown colony in 1867. Singapore was briefly shoehorned into Malaysia before becoming independent in 1965, which enabled it to pursue its own destiny.
For most of human history, countries and borders changed. The colonial authorities created many different anomalies on maps, and when independence came in the 1960s, these passed into the new states.
In many cases, the conflicts we see today, from the Sahel to the Middle East, have their origins in colonial times. The lack of willingness of countries to recognize Somaliland is solely due to this legacy of colonialism and how it passed into international law and the falsehood of what is called “territorial integrity.”