Somaliland

Three sets of visitors today. For the first, from the Somalilanders, I'm going to rely on the photographs they took, because our camera had a flat battery. The members were Mrs Lulu Todd, Khader Ali, Dr Ahmed Moh'd and Ahmed Kadleye (who took the photograph). We talked about what could be done to support the newly elected democratic government in Somaliland in meeting some of its development needs, and there was agreement on the need to set up a UK charitable trust for the purpose. Development of agriculture and fisheries would enable Somaliland to generate export earnings, and there would be markets for these products in Ethiopia and the UAE. But we would need to ascertain what are the new government's priorities, and see how best we can help pursue their goals. Re-recognition of Somaliland as an independent state would obviously help enormously, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Somaliland should explore the views of the Coalition on the strategy of working towards international recognition, following the success of the elections.