The dueling signals lay bare the dichotomy between an executive branch that remains officially wedded to a “One Somalia” policy and a legislature that increasingly views Somaliland as a rare reliable partner in an increasingly unstable region.
“The Horn of Africa faces an increasing number of complex challenges, yet the State Department continues to work off outdated policies and diplomatic frameworks that don’t meet today’s challenges,” James Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement following the passage of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).