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By Ben Farmer
Republican heavyweights are increasing calls for Donald Trump to recognise a breakaway statelet on the Horn of Africa as an ally against Chinese influence.
The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Africa Subcommittee has become the latest MAGA figure to call for Washington to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state and potentially gain a new base at the entrance to the Red Sea.
Texas senator Ted Cruz has written to Mr Trump, praising Somaliland as a “critical security and diplomatic partner for the United States” and urging full recognition.
Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, as the country collapsed into anarchy.
The semi-desert territory has remained a relatively stable de facto state ever since, but it has not been recognised by Mogadishu or by the international community.
Hargeisa, the capital, has tried for years to court Washington’s acceptance and has redoubled its efforts since Mr Trump regained the White House.
Somaliland has already said it is willing to offer the US a strategic military base on the Gulf of Aden and grant access to critical minerals as part of any deal. The breakaway territory has also earned the ire of China for recognising Taiwan.
US China hawks are increasingly worried about Beijing’s growing footprint along the Red Sea, a conduit for around 12 per cent of world shipping trade.
Beijing has been expanding its presence in Djibouti, where America currently has its largest base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier.
Mr Cruz told Mr Trump: “Somaliland remains committed to forging closer ties with the US and is actively engaged in enhancing military cooperation, counterterrorism efforts, and economic and trade partnerships.
“To do so to the greatest effect and the greatest benefit to American national security interests, it requires the status of a state. I urge you to grant it that recognition.”
China reacted angrily, accusing Mr Cruz of a “hegemonic and bullying attitude.”
Republican congressmen, led by Scott Perry, are already pushing legislation to recognise Somaliland’s independence.
“At a time of intensifying competition with China, Iran, and other hostile actors in the region and around the globe, the United States cannot afford to brush off allies,” he said in June.
Somaliland is also building ties with the United Arab Emirates.
Republican interest in Somaliland is growing as Washington and the international community grow increasingly frustrated with insecurity and faltering nation-building in Somalia.
Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants have made extensive gains against government forces in recent months.
Yet analysts also warn that courting Somaliland could not be a substitute for engaging with Mogadishu, and could further fracture the country.
Somalia’s federal government last month raised tensions with Somaliland by drawing up a new state that included territory claimed by the breakaway region.
Michelle Gavin, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: “A largely justified enthusiasm for Somaliland and the potential of deepening relations with Hargeisa is sometimes proposed as a solution to the thorny problem of how to pursue US interests in Somalia itself.
“Policymakers who are exhausted by the fractious politics and glacial pace of political reform in Somalia, and eager for a way out of this particular ‘forever war,’ should not indulge in this fantasy.”