Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi “Irro” argued in remarks to The Telegraph that Somaliland fulfills all the criteria for statehood under the Montevideo Convention, while Palestine, despite widespread international recognition does not.
The comparison, however, overlooks major legal and political realities.
First, Somaliland does not exercise effective control over the full territory it claims. In practice, it controls around 45% of the territory it claims, while the remaining 55% is either outside its authority or politically aligned with a pro-union position that rejects Somaliland’s secession project.
Second, the Montevideo Convention was never intended to grant every region, clan entity or political bloc within an existing sovereign state an automatic right to unilateral independence. While the convention outlines criteria including population, territory, government and the capacity to engage in foreign relations, it does not override principles of territorial integrity, constitutional order and the political consent of populations within contested territories.
Irro’s comparison with Palestine is also politically and legally misleading. Palestinian recognition emerged from decades of international diplomacy, United Nations resolutions, occupation-related legal debates and broad multilateral engagement.
Somaliland’s case remains a contested unilateral secession claim from within Somalia, opposed by major communities in the very territory it claims.
