Somaliland Rights Under UN Resolution A/RES/1479(XV)

The Act Of Union between The British Somaliland and The Italian Somalia, in July 01,1960, has never been ratified by the parliament of that country, the Republic of Somalia. That means there was no union legally, between the two countries. They were never officially united in the first place. Never. Did you know that?
But my main point is about the seat in the UN which was the actual official recognition given to both countries under a Security Council Resolution #1479 which was ratified and approved on the 20th of September 1960. This resolution clearly indicated that the seat belongs to both countries. (Please google that document A/RES/1479(XV) and read it, if you have doubts in my statement.)

The Solution:
Now, to solve this long-due problem, a legally written paper needs to be sent, by the current Somaliland government, to the Security Council in New York. That official letter should inform the Security Council that Resolution #1479 is no longer valid, since Somaliland withdrew from the failed union on May 18, 1991, and since the Act Of Union was never ratified by any Somalia parliament in that country. Even though the main reason of that withdrawal was based only on the facts that the military regime of the Somali Democratic Republic, headed by dictator Siyad Barre, has gone into a war against the Somaliland people in 1988. That regime killed more than 300 thousand Somaliland citizens. They also destroying entire cities by leveling them to the ground. More than 1.5 million Somalilanders fled to the neighboring Somali Region in Ethiopia.

The paper, from the current administration, will open a new case to prove that Somaliland and Somalia were two separate countries that got united on their own will, and that the status of their union failed for the above-mentioned reasons.

Therefore, the Somaliland government would officially declare, in that letter, that Resolution 1479 is null and void. Consequently, both countries would be officially informed to reapply for a seat in the United Nations separately, or an amendment to that Resolution would be created by the Security Council to accommodate both states as separate members in the United Nations.

Please note that, when Somaliland took its independence from Great Britain on June 26, 1960, thirty four countries, including members of the Security Council, did recognize them as a separate country. The record of their congratulations is available in Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Omer Ahmed Hassan, MBA.
Hargeisa, Somaliland