America Must Prioritize Somali-Owned Peace and Nation Building Process

June 13, 2025 

The foreign policy approach of the Trump-Vance Administration appears to be a commitment to the principle of “peace through strength,” as articulated by the America First Policy Institute. Historically, peace through strength conjures up the apparition of total disregard for the inviolability of the borders of sovereign nations. It likewise can be interpreted as the total sum of a neoliberal industrial and economic domination.

Trump’s approach to advancing U.S. strategic interests focuses on promoting “America First” principles. This means putting domestic priorities first (i.e., reviving American manufacturing through protectionist trade policies and maintaining high defense spending). However, as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently remarked, “Empires don’t mind their own business,” suggesting that the U.S. should not retreat from its global leadership role. Leading by example and promoting peace and security remains vital. 

In this context, avoiding actions that might fuel instability in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, would be a wise course of action. However, calls to recognize “Somaliland”’s unilateral, clan-based secession has been gaining traction behind closed doors. This is a misleading and myopic policy to embrace. The Heritage Foundation has taken a lead role in these impetuous calls. It has a track record of recommending regressive and harmful policies. A cautionary example lies in the widespread criticism and disavowal of Project 2025, which President Trump himself had repeatedly distanced himself from, prior to his election through various media appearances. Project 2025 calls for the recognition of “Somaliland”. 

Recognition for the unilateral, single clan-based secession in northern Somalia is a recipe for disaster as it leads to intractable ethnic and regional conflicts that would cause further mayhem and destruction to the Horn of Africa region, particularly Somalia. "Somaliland"s political elite has no qualms about weaponizing foreign aid or using extreme methods to reach and control a long-defunct, colonial-era borders. More recently, the eastern portion of northern Somalia has experienced significant armed conflicts, human rights abuses, and hundreds of thousands of families being targeted and forced to flee their homes in Las Anod, Sool and Erigabo, Sanaag. 

The Trump-Vance administration should be wary of the fragility of Somalia. A comprehensive peace and reconciliation process can bring a viable resolution and healing to Somalia’s internal, clan-based conflict.  Diplomatic efforts should focus on mediating internal grievances and resolving the land and resource disputes that fuel the violence. This must be the right U.S. foreign policy approach to support democratic institutions, strengthen the central government, and respect Somalia's territorial integrity. A strategic position that aligns well with the broader goals of fostering stability and reducing the threat of extremism! 

Practically, “peace through strength” should accomplish these goals without further entanglement and without harming a fragile yet strategically important region. It would help advance U.S. geopolitical interests.

By prioritizing Somali-owned peace-building and national reconciliation, President Trump restores a much-needed U.S. global leadership that guides current AU and UN efforts to bolstering sustainable peace in Africa and beyond. Disregarding the above common sense approach risks deepening the crisis and  might lead to greater fragmentation and long-term instability in Somalia. 

Mohamed Elmi 

Minneapolis, MN

Somaliland’s Aggression Against Maakhir Coast

On April 24, 2025, well-armed clan militias, operating under the banner of the secessionist Somaliland administration, stormed the coastal waters of Laasqoray, Sanaag region, aboard high-speed boats. 

The aggression against Laasqoray town by Somaliland's forces showcases a troubling escalation. This is not merely a dispute over territory; it is an orchestrated series of hostile actions aimed at destabilizing Maakhir.

In December 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that nearly 43,000 people were displaced in Erigavo town, Sanaag region due to an orchestrated armed violence by “Somaliland” forces and Isaq militias.[1] Over 60% of the displaced families were targeted due to their clan (as members of the Warsangeli Harti) and opposition to "Somaliland's" unilateral secession (OCHA, 2024). The 2024 incident was instigated by General Nuh Tani of Somaliland, a perpetrator of war crimes in Las Anod. Gen. Nuh Tani visited Erigavo on October 15, 2023, and threatened the Harti community. 

The Maakhir coast, known for its lush northern slope of the Cal Madow Mountain, long coastline, and history of self-governance, now faces ever growing militarization and violent incursions that threaten the very fabric of its society. 

On April 24, 2025, in a brutal and coordinated assault, Somaliland’s clan militia hijacked several locally owned fishing vessels off the coast of Laas Qoray and abducted nearly 60 Somali fishermen, civilians whose only offense was earning an honest living at sea. The attackers deliberately veered off their expected maritime route, concealed their identities, and carried out their mission from the East with military precision, a premeditated act of aggression aimed at destabilizing the Haylaan and Sanaag regions of Somalia's Maakhir State.

This brazen act is not an anomaly; it is the latest chapter in a disturbing pattern of hostility. It echoes an earlier provocation documented in 2011 by ECOP-Marine, when a British Royal Navy warship, reportedly carrying the commander of the so-called “Somaliland navy”, approached the very same shores of Laasqoray. The report documents how the British Royal Navy attracted a “serious military fire” upon coming close to the shore off Laasqoray. From that foreign vessel, amphibious and commando boats were launched. The incident was widely condemned as a flagrant violation of Somalia’s sovereignty, and “specifically of the Warsangeli territory”[2].

Once again, history seems to repeat itself, only this time with greater impunity and more direct violence. It is a campaign that weaponizes international aid to fund chaos, turning development dollars into bullets. Let us be clear: The abduction of non-combatant fishermen constitutes a gross violation of international humanitarian law. It is also a direct assault on Somalia’s territorial integrity and the vision of a unified federal state.

The Maakhir region, strategically vital and resilient through generations, must not be left to bear this assault alone. The Federal Government of Somalia (SFG) must act decisively to support the interim administration of Maakhir State. Silence in the face of such organized violence is not neutrality; it is complicity. Donors must demand accountability and not allow their aid to be diverted into secessionist violence.

The people of Maakhir have long been committed to peace and security in northern Somalia. But no community, no matter how strong, can withstand relentless waves of aggression if the world chooses to look away. As in 2011 and the recent orchestrated Erigavo violence that uprooted hundreds of non-Isaq families, so today: this must be condemned, categorically and without delay.

By weaponizing international aid, the Somaliland administration has transformed the good intent of donors into instruments of oppression and turning lifelines into landmines. That aid package should have built schools, roads, and clinics is instead funding abductions and sowing discord. It is an egregious betrayal of humanitarian principles and a crime against the spirit of federalism and unity that Somalia strives to uphold.

This latest act of aggression is part of a broader, dangerous campaign to redraw defunct colonial borders through sporadic assaults and by force. To fail to hold “Somaliland” accountable is to abandon the very ideals of peace and self-determination that international law exists to protect.

Laasqoray residents celebrating "World Oceans Day" 2023

Mohamed Elmi 

ahafinance@gmail.com

Minneapolis, MN

References: 

1. ECOP-marine. (2011, July 11). British Royal Navy warship entangled in domestic affairs skirmish. 

2. OCHA. (2024, December 18). SOMALIA: Armed Violence in Ceerigaabo town, Sanaag region. Retrieved from https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/somalia/somalia-armed-violence-ceerigaabo-town-sanaag-region-flash-update-no1-18-december-2024

3. SEDO. (2023, June 8). Laasqoray communities celebrate World Oceans Day 2023. Retrieved from https://sedosomalia.org/?p=4673

[1] OCHA. (2024, December 18). SOMALIA: Armed Violence in Ceerigaabo town, Sanaag region. 

[2] ECOP-marine. (2011, July 11). British Royal Navy warship entangled in domestic affairs skirmish.