HARGEISA (SD) – Somaliland government has hailed UK’s parliament move to debate on the recognition of Hargeisa as independent state.
The UK Parliament on Tuesday debated a motion on whether to recognise Somaliland.

The motion, which in the Westminster system was labelled as an adjournment debate, came after the session of parliament on Tuesday night, which meant that there would be no vote or further business after the discussion.

In a statement issued after Somaliland cabinet meeting, Somaliland welcomed the motion tabled by several UK lawmakers.
“Somaliland  would like to thank the UK Parliament for its debate on the issue of the Republic of Somaliland in the House of Commons on the Parliamentary agenda,” the statement reads in part.

The members of the cabinet also thanked the lawmakers who engineered the motion.

“We are especially grateful to the parliamentarians who strongly supported the move to show that  the world should recognize the Republic of Somaliland, and especially to the member led Mr. Gavin Williamson who brought the motion,” the cabinet said.

MPs of different parties in UK have called for Somaliland’s recognition as its own country. The MP urged that support from the Commons “demonstrated an exceptional unity across the House”.

Former education secretary Gavin Williamson said the UK owed a “debt of honour” to the people of Somaliland. He told the Commons that the Government should recognise Somaliland as a separate nation state from neighbouring Somalia to the south east.

Somaliland declared unilateral independence from Somalia in 1991 after the fall of Somalia’s central government led by the late Mohamed Siyad Barre.

Somaliland is considered by most countries around the world to be part of Somalia, but it has its own de facto government based in the city of Hargeisa.