By Julian Pecquet, in Washington
Saturday December 21, 2024
Trump’s entourage is pushing for the US to recognise
Somaliland, with Senate committee leadership also favouring the breakaway
province.
The Somali embassy has hired one of Washington’s top
lobbying firms as it braces for a potentially rocky road ahead under
President-elect Donald Trump.
Barely two months into his tenure, Ambassador Dahir Abdi
hired the BGR Group on 27 November for $50,000 per month for 12 months, or
$600,000 total. The contract filed with the US Department of Justice states
that BGR will provide “government affairs services” for the embassy.
Top of mind for the Somali government is the growing push
for the US to recognise the breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent
country, particularly among Republicans. Since last year, Somalia has also
pursued eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Relations with the US suffered a blow in Trump’s first term.
The then-president included Somalia in his “Muslim ban” on
travel from certain countries and later pulled most US forces battling Islamist
insurgents out of the country at the tail end of his first term. President Joe
Biden reversed the decision in 2021.
“Somalia and the US are natural partners,” the Somali
Embassy tells The Africa Report. “We continue [to] work together on
counterterrorism and other important security programmes. We also look forward
to expanding that work and the economic relationship to our mutual benefit.”
Somaliland fight
This time around, a growing chorus of Republicans in Trump’s
orbit is making the case that he should recognise Somaliland’s independence as
a hedge against China in the Horn of Africa.
Countering China policies “should include … recognition of
Somaliland statehood as a hedge against the US’ deteriorating position in
Djibouti,” former Trump State Department director of Policy Planning Kiron
Skinner writes in the diplomacy section of Project 2025, a conservative
blueprint for a Republican administration led by the Heritage Foundation.
Several Republican veterans of the first Trump
administration – including former Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs Tibor Nagy and former special envoy for the Great Lakes Peter Pham –
are also publicly making that case.
Last week, Republican Congressman Scott Perry of
Pennsylvania, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a
bill “to recognise Somaliland of the Federal Republic of Somalia as a separate,
independent country”. Perry introduced similar legislation two years ago but it
went nowhere.
“We want to keep the conversation open and current,” Perry
tells The Africa Report about his decision to introduce the bill in the waning
days of the current Congress.
Republican Congressman Brian Mast of Florida, the incoming
chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress, tells The
Africa Report that he has yet to speak to Perry about his bill.
“I’m certainly willing to … sit with him, look at it, see
what he’s done on it, and speak to the African subcommittee as well,” Mast
says.
Senate Somaliland boosters
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Somaliland advocate Jim Risch of
Idaho is set to take control of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next
year following the Republican victory in the November election. Risch
introduced a Somaliland Partnership Act in 2022 that stops short of recognition
but promotes opportunities for collaboration on regional security issues.
Lobbyists registered on the contract include Lester Munson,
a former Republican chief of staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
and Scott Eisner, former president of the US Chamber of Commerce’s US-Africa
Business Centre.
BGR previously lobbied for the Somali Ministry of Finance in
2018-2019.